Are DVC "Perks" Really DVC Perks at All?

[NappilyEverAfter.]

Question for those white card holders who upgraded from hopper tix to sorcerer AP over the phone and received a voucher, did ticketing ask for your DVC number to get the voucher? If so, it would be hard for them not to honor it when they issued the voucher to your DVC number (which I assume is tied to white card status). They would have some complicity here and it should be hard to blame the DVC member upon redempton.

3 of my party got vouchers online the website for the sorcerers and were asked for id and member card. They showed white and were activated without question. my party is 16 people. 11 with white cards (4 contracts from 4 families). Everyone showed white cards when asked. spoke to a supervisor he said we were eligible. saved us a fortune. he also said now we have a sorcerers pass, as long we renew every year (at the renewal price) we are automatically eligible for the same pass type next year.

in response to the obviously very upset direct members...

if there is a mistake it is certainly not the white card members fault as they are showing their DVC card. Not sure why my getting something you also have somehow diminishes your experience. Enough pixie dust for all.

like people always say on here when ppl complain about perks that all you are garenteed is a room. Perks have and will come and go. If you feel you have overpaid buying direct i would sell while the market is still relatively hot still.

 

[Drew729]

Question for those white card holders who upgraded from hopper tix to sorcerer AP over the phone and received a voucher, did ticketing ask for your DVC number to get the voucher? If so, it would be hard for them not to honor it when they issued the voucher to your DVC number (which I assume is tied to white card status). They would have some complicity here and it should be hard to blame the DVC member upon redempton.

Here was our process. Called general ticketing which took about 4 hours to get through and asked about upgrading park hoppers to annual pass. The cast member asked for my membership number and to hold (about 5 minutes) while she confirmed my DVC status which is a white card just fyi. She came back on and said " your are able to get Sorcerer pass". She took my CC info to charge the difference and it showed up right away on my MDE under ticketing and attached to my profile under membership and passes. Attached is a photo of the voucher- it just says show a valid membership ID at park entrance.

Who knows if they will honor but maybe this is available to all DVC and maybe a more discounts will be coming for the blue card members.

 

[Sandisw]

Here was our process. Called general ticketing which took about 4 hours to get through and asked about upgrading park hoppers to annual pass. The cast member asked for my membership number and to hold (about 5 minutes) while she confirmed my DVC status which is a white card just fyi. She came back on and said " your are able to get Sorcerer pass". She took my CC info to charge the difference and it showed up right away on my MDE under ticketing and attached to my profile under membership and passes. Attached is a photo of the voucher- it just says show a valid membership ID at park entrance.

Who knows if they will honor but maybe this is available to all DVC and maybe a more discounts will be coming for the blue card members in the future for both this pass and the Incredipass?View attachment 604280
View attachment 604280

The key will be the valid DVC membership card. Right now, it certainly sounds like they are accepting the white card. At any point in time, they can go back to it being that only a blue card is a valid one.

I certainly don’t blame anyone who is being allowed to purchase because it is ultimately on the CM.

 

[BL2020]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think I will try to upgrade my hopper over the phone. If I provide them my DVC # and they still offer it, they should honor it when redeeming. Though I'm not going till January so who knows!

 

[Sandisw]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think I will try to upgrade my hopper over the phone. If I provide them my DVC # and they still offer it, they should honor it when redeeming. Though I'm not going till January so who knows!

Well, per DVC, you need a blue card to activate, so I do think anyone without it needs to be prepared,

 

[AaronEuth]

How? I missed something.

Again. Those benefits don't move with the sale. That's the whole point.

But in this case access to sorcerer's AP is moving with the resale. If some potential direct buyer decides, "we don't need direct, we can buy sorcerer's with a white card" that means there will be more demand for the resale contracts which leads to a higher price.

If enough people do that , DVC will have to come up with some other replacement perk for blue card buyers that they wouldn't have to otherwise. Especially if it turns out ticketing is the department that decided they don't care about white vs blue card and told dvc to shove off with the restriction

 

[Yinn]

But in this case access to sorcerer's AP is moving with the resale. If some potential direct buyer decides, "we don't need direct, we can buy sorcerer's with a white card" that means there will be more demand for the resale contracts which leads to a higher price.

If enough people do that , DVC will have to come up with some other replacement perk for blue card buyers that they wouldn't have to otherwise. Especially if it turns out ticketing is the department that decided they don't care about white vs blue card and told dvc to shove off with the restriction

Here's to hoping that blue card members end up getting a discount to the incredi-pass then.

 

[Drew729]

Well, per DVC, you need a blue card to activate, so I do think anyone without it needs to be prepared,

Well, per ticketing, you don't need a blue card to activate, so I think there is clearly a disconnect. I can't find anywhere on the ticketing pages that state this situation is a "membership extra" that would be limited to qualifying memberships that are provided by DVD. That may end up being the case but as of now white card holders can purchase and activate.

I won't assume anything but it seems good for DPEP because for us it was about $1200 to upgrade which is more $ for ticketing and more $ for Genie+ and more $ for Lightning Passes and more $ for food and more $ for merch. Dang you Disney you got me again

 

[WilsonFlyer]

But in this case access to sorcerer's AP is moving with the resale. If some potential direct buyer decides, "we don't need direct, we can buy sorcerer's with a white card" that means there will be more demand for the resale contracts which leads to a higher price.

If enough people do that , DVC will have to come up with some other replacement perk for blue card buyers that they wouldn't have to otherwise. Especially if it turns out ticketing is the department that decided they don't care about white vs blue card and told dvc to shove off with the restriction

OK. That logic holds, of course. I thought to back earlier in the thread when someone implied benefits followed the sale. Sorry for the confusion.

But the current course of thinking seems to be that it will be rescinded. I don't personally think so, but it seems a lot of people think it's a training error. We shall see.

 

[Sandisw]

Well, per ticketing, you don't need a blue card to activate, so I think there is clearly a disconnect. I can't find anywhere on the ticketing pages that state this situation is a "membership extra" that would be limited to qualifying memberships that are provided by DVD. That may end up being the case but as of now white card holders can purchase and activate.

I won't assume anything but it seems good for DPEP because for us it was about $1200 to upgrade which is more $ for ticketing and more $ for Genie+ and more $ for Lightning Passes and more $ for food and more $ for merch. Dang you Disney you got me again

Just saying that with Disney rules are always subject to change. Look what happened with gold voucher and the change in black out dates.

Since there are two divisions saying two different things it’s always good to know what might happen!!

I do think that if we still see reports of this happening over the next few weeks then it may indeed be that the DVC language is the wrong one! Because if it’s being given in a way it shouldn’t it won’t take too long for DVD to get involved.

 

[NappilyEverAfter.]

Here's to hoping that blue card members end up getting a discount to the incredi-pass then.

i think that would be fair and warranted for Blue card members. I hope you all get an awesome new perk that i can be jealous of. As a white card holder i think the epcot lounge is the perk you get which i am most envious of. may have to make some direct friends to take me for a visit one day.

 

[RoseGold]

Boy, Disney really has been treating you Blue Card Elite pretty badly. No Incredipass discount. Letting us plebs buy the sorcerer pass anyway.

Maybe they’ll send y’all another backpack to make you feel like those five figures were worth it.

 

[striker1064]

i think that would be fair and warranted for Blue card members. I hope you all get an awesome new perk that i can be jealous of. As a white card holder i think the epcot lounge is the perk you get which i am most envious of. may have to make some direct friends to take me for a visit one day.

You really aren't missing much. It's fine for a few minutes on a hot day I guess, but there's very little up there. And there's always a waiting list.

Just got back from a trip. White card member only (I don’t have blue card). For the 10% restaurant DVC discount I’ve found if you mobile order at locations that give the discount they automatically apply the discount even though technically I’m not supposed to get it. In my opinion the whole white card vs blue card perks are just silly - has to be a lot of IT headache all to make sure I don’t get that $.60 off my cheeseburger purchase!?

Hold on right this second... there's a cheeseburger at WDW for only $6???

 

[Yinn]

You really aren't missing much. It's fine for a few minutes on a hot day I guess, but there's very little up there. And there's always a waiting list.

We've never had to wait for the lounge, but we go during a slower season typically. The lounge is useful for sleeping kids. There's been several times our toddler fell asleep and we just detour to the lounge while he takes his 30 minute nap out of the sun.

Boy, Disney really has been treating you Blue Card Elite pretty badly. No Incredipass discount. Letting us plebs buy the sorcerer pass anyway.

Maybe they’ll send y’all another backpack to make you feel like those five figures were worth it.

I'm not sure it's an elite thing, it sure as heck isn't for me since 90% of my points are resale points. Heck many resale points even cost more than buying some of the cheaper resorts direct. But if Disney is going to create a distinction between us then I would like to know what those distinctions are.

Imagine if neither the Incredi-pass nor the Sorcerer's pass had blackout dates. Why would any of us buy the incredi-pass? And if you had bought it already, then they removed it. Wouldn't you also want to know what you're getting as you paid extra?

 

[Chuck S]

You really aren't missing much. It's fine for a few minutes on a hot day I guess, but there's very little up there. And there's always a waiting list.

While I'll agree the lounge isn't super special, it is a nice place to escape into A/C during summer months. Maybe it has to do with when I normally travel, early June and early December, but I've only had to wait once for about 5 minutes. I do wish they would put one in every park, since places to just sit a few minutes in A/C, unless you're dining, seem to be getting few and far between.

For me, all these discounts and perks came along pretty much after I purchased, so if they go away or are shared with resale purchasers, no big deal. The best perk, which was really a purchase incentive at the time...before there was really a resale market at all, was the free park passes until the end of 1999.

 

[cheryl.UK]

We bought direct back in 2006. When I bought, I didn't even know there was a resale market but also, any member could buy an AP at a discount. I could not care less which members can buy the AP at a discounted price. We are all members after all. In fact, as I have friends with resale contracts who bought them after coming to DVC with us, I hope everyone can.

 

[buffy71]

I haven’t seen DVC “class” warfare between members, but I’m new to ownership.

To me, a DVC member is DVC member no matter how they purchased. We all pay the same maintenance fees to the Mouse!


I’m happy if all DVC members can purchase Sorcerer APs. So many things have gone up in cost at Disney, for all of us, it’s good we all can get this pass.

However, this all may be a temporary oversight on the part of Disney. So, take advantage of it while you can!

I agree. I have been a DVC owner for well over 15 years. I could care less if benefits are given to direct or resale. Makes no difference to me. Also agree that resale pays same amount in fees. It just increases the value of my DVC if I ever sell if all perks given to all members. DVC is never losing anything.

 

[limace]

I think there’s been a pretty noticeable shift on these boards in the last couple years away from “direct is almost never a good value” to a substantial number of our more frequent posters being very pro-direct. I don’t know if that due to RIV and Disney’s restrictions working on folks, or what-but it will be interesting to see how things shift here if the AP discounts are no longer restricted. I know it’s human nature to remain very committed to the idea that previous choices we’ve made have been good ones-man, it’s depressing to think we really didn’t need to spend that extra X thousand dollars on that contract after all!

 

[Matty B13]

Maybe Ticketing is getting sick and tired of trying to figure out who is and who isn't a Blue Card member and just giving all Members access to the Sorcerer Pass. I'm sure it wastes a lot of their time trying to figure it out, since even DVC has a hard time as well.

 

[Chuck S]

Maybe Ticketing is getting sick and tired of trying to figure out who is and who isn't a Blue Card member and just giving all Members access to the Sorcerer Pass. I'm sure it wastes a lot of their time trying to figure it out, since even DVC has a hard time as well.

I don't know about that, it would be about the equivalent of verifying Florida residency for resident tickets.