cheaper tickets for dvc members

[DrTomorrow]

Frankly, it seems greedy to expect more

Hmmm..... Yep, I still agree. It's A-OK to want more, to ask for more, to petition for more, even to complain because you don't get more. But to "Expect" more, as in "I'm a DVC Owner, so I expect additional discounts" - greedy in my book too.

If I was a Disney stockholder I'd be pretty upset with the FT packages they recently sold. Book 7 nights for the price of 4.

Ah, but there's a big difference between DVC members and Hotel guests. They don't have kitchens, (probably) don't come as often as DVCers and are closer (IMHO) to the "Moo-ers" you keep mentioning - and by extending the UPH, they are kept on-site to spend spend spend. Plus, from what I've read on DIS (which, I admit, is hardly straight from Eisner's mouth), they had predicted a lot of room vacancies for the period that the FTP covered, so it made sense to cut prices to get people in the resorts and the parks - I can understand the business case that could be made. I'll will admit, JF, that if the economy continues to improve and booking/attendance is up - and they offer the FTP again - I'll wonder what they're smoking in the Board Room!

 

[JohnnyII]

In virtually EVERY industry in America the best customers get the best discounts.

On many levels you could consider DVC members as a group among Disney's best and most loyal customers. I think it is the loyalty that trips us up. Meaning, points are not going unused and the DVC resorts are running at close to full occupency. Disney probably considers us a captive audience and figures that a sgnificant ticket discount won't improve their bottom line. That is probably short sided and just plain wrong.

Sure if we got the Florida discount, they would probably sell more tickets to those who sometimes skip the parks, but it probably wouldn't cover the cost of the discount. So what! Big deal!

I think that should be just fine with Disney. With over 70,000 DVC families, Disney should want us to the their biggest fans and boosters. In part to help drive other business, ie. customers, their way. How many of you have brought guests to WDW and they have since bought into the DVC? Or brought guests for the first time they have been to WDW and they have since returned? I suspect that number is pretty high.

If Disney looks at issues like this as strictly a short term $$$ issue they are seriously short sided. From what I have seen over the past several years, Disney has been reactive rather than proactive in growing their business on the theme park side.

Just loom at their 4 parks...While Aminal Kingdom is a fine park, why do that instead of a thrill ride park to appeal more to teen agers? I have a 17yo who is'nt all that interested in Disney anymore, but if they had a 6 flags style park to go with their other parks it would be a different story.

Just another perspective...

John

 

[DrTomorrow]

Originally posted by MiaSRN62
[...]
everyone who goes to WDW spends their hard-earned money to fill Disney's pockets a little more too. DVC'ers probably do this more than a large portion of the general population.
[...]

Now this is something that I'd like see proven or disproven with hard facts - it seems to be the basis for almost every "DVC Benefits" thread I've read. I honestly don't know if it is true or not - I lean towards not, as I feel that DVCers tend to be a bit more bargain-aware and value.for.the.money than the average family splurging on a once.every.three.years family trip to WDW. But I'd be very curious to hear facts - and informed opinions - on this. Hmmmm. Hey FriendsOfEeyore, care to start another "interesting" thread?

 

[MiaSRN62]

everyone who goes to WDW spends their hard-earned money to fill Disney's pockets a little more too. DVC'ers probably do this more than a large portion of the general population.

Now this is something that I'd like see proven or disproven with hard facts - it seems to be the basis for almost every "DVC Benefits" thread I've read. I honestly don't know if it is true or not - I lean towards not, as I feel that DVCers tend to be a bit more bargain-aware and value.for.the.money than the average family splurging on a once.every.three.years family trip to WDW

Well, I obviously don't know what sort of "hard facts" you are looking for. But I meant DVC'ers spend more because they are there more. I'll use my own family as an example. Pre-DVC years we stayed in off-site accomodations and thus shopped and ate more off-site. Post-DVC life has brought us into the parks and shops more---and we make more trips because it's easier with the DVC points to do this---spending more $ than we used to when we weren't DVC Members. I honestly don't know how to provide you with anything more than this. Can you prove me wrong with hard facts ? I suppose I feel most everyone (DVC and non) are pretty value-conscious. I'm not saying this to be coy or anything, but I would be truly interested in hearing why my statement is not true ? I guess I honestly don't know what's true or not either on any of the posts in this thread. I just know that we have spent more at Disney since becoming Members because we're onsite now.

 

[LisaR]

Originally posted by MiaSRN62
But I meant DVC'ers spend more because they are there more. .

We may spend more but it isn't necessarily Disney that is making a profit from this. This was my family before DVC:

Flew to WDW one time a year.
Stayed in a WDW Resort. Had to eat out almost every meal because we didn't have a kitchen. Went to the parks almost every day because we knew it would be at least one year if not longer before we would return. So, Disney made a lot of money on us (cash for the resort, all meals, tickets, gifts, hardly ever left the property).

Now, here is our family since buying into DVC. We go home 3 times a year (although one of those times might be to HH or VB). However, Disney isn't getting any cash from me now for booking a resort. Second, we have a full kitchen and we ALWAYS have a few meals and tons of snacks in our room. Remember, Disney used to get 3 meals a day out of us. Also, since we can go more often and we have found other things we like to do more. We don't go to the parks all the time anymore. Since many of these things are off property, we eat many more meals off property. Plus, we don't buy lots of stuff anymore. We want to spend our money on DVC merchandise which we all know is slim pickings. I have enough character tee's and sweatshirts.

So, Disney makes nothing on me anymore for my lodging, probably half of what I used to spend on meals, almost nothing on merchandise, way, way, way less on park passes.

I think Disney is foolish to think just because we are DVC members we are spending most of our money and more of our money at WDW then the every other year type guest. JMO

Lisa

 

[crisi]

This is exactly what we will (and have been) doing. Because it's not cheap to just walk into the parks to dine for a couple hours on a Hopper pass, we've been cooking more in the villa or driving off-site.

Disney provides well over fifty restaurants on site that you don't need park admission to eat at. You are apparently not going to those restaurants. There is something other than park admission driving you to decide to cook in your room or eat offsite. If I'm a Disney exec, why should I believe that people who are choosing to eat offsite or in their rooms - instead of taking advantage of resort and DTD restaurants - will change their behavior and spend money in the parks on dinner if I give them a pass discount?

In virtually EVERY industry in America the best customers get the best discounts.

The biggest discounts at Target or WalMart or BestBuy don't go to their best customers. They go to the ones that strictly buy "loss leaders" and shop "door busters." Buy a large screen LCD TV at Best Buy for $9,000 and don't expect them to give you discounts on DVDs.

I have a Readers Advantage card for Barnes and Noble. I pay them $25 a year, and they give me an extra 10% discount. This has nothing to do with how much I shop there - I can buy one book in the course of the year and save $2.50 or buy many books and save $250. I have the same card for Boarders. The discount doesn't increase with my volume.

When I shopped for a car, I discovered that the discounts I had gotten as a "first time Mazda buyer" were not available on a subsquent car. There was no loyalty program, only one that got me to buy Mazda the first time.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Disney provides well over fifty restaurants on site that you don't need park admission to eat at. You are apparently not going to those restaurants. There is something other than park admission driving you to decide to cook in your room or eat offsite. If I'm a Disney exec, why should I believe that people who are choosing to eat offsite or in their rooms - instead of taking advantage of resort and DTD restaurants - will change their behavior and spend money in the parks on dinner if I give them a pass discount?

I'm aware of all the restaurants, but what is taking us off-site are other parks (eating and spending there), visiting friends/family nearby etc and stopping at various restaurants on the way. In other words, we're finding things to do offsite because it's just not feasible/good value for us to do otherwise. As far as eating in the room goes (and we don't do this that often)----sometimes it's just easier to eat there since you know you won't be in the parks. But, if we were drawn to the parks, then it would be more convenient to eat there than to take transportation back to the villa. So sorry, I think a good portion of park admission is what is driving us off property. I'm not saying it's 100% the reason, but a significant part---we still have to have our dinner at Boma regardless
Quite frankly, the Disney execs can think whatever they want. We're still having very nice vacations in our DVC digs !

 

[DeeP]

Originally posted by MiaSRN62
Well, I obviously don't know what sort of "hard facts" you are looking for. But I meant DVC'ers spend more because they are there more. I'll use my own family as an example. Pre-DVC years we stayed in off-site accomodations and thus shopped and ate more off-site. Post-DVC life has brought us into the parks and shops more---and we make more trips because it's easier with the DVC points to do this---spending more $ than we used to when we weren't DVC Members. I honestly don't know how to provide you with anything more than this. Can you prove me wrong with hard facts ? I suppose I feel most everyone (DVC and non) are pretty value-conscious. I'm not saying this to be coy or anything, but I would be truly interested in hearing why my statement is not true ? I guess I honestly don't know what's true or not either on any of the posts in this thread. I just know that we have spent more at Disney since becoming Members because we're onsite now.

I am totally confused. In this post you are saying you spend more money at Disney since you became DVC members, yet in your other posts on this thread you say you are not spending as much money at Disney because you go off site etc.
Which one is it????????????

 

[dianthus]

I don't believe in entitlements, but I do love discounts & try to take advantage of them whenever possible, as everyone does.

I am a loyal DVCer & have never regretted my investment in my family's vacation fun. When we all purchased our DVC ownership interests, we basically pre-paid our vacation spending up front. Disney quality, the program's flexibility and Disney's attractions were the factors. They way I look at it is, we gave them a good portion of our future vacation dollars when we purchased- instead of pay as you go. That basically pledged our loyalty to them. At the rate DVC resorts have sold, they have a lot of loyal fans in us.

I would love some kind of discount program to choose from as a DVC member besides the UPH 10% deal. I used to buy the regular APs too until they changed the activation rules. That was my form of discount, as I could control the year & plan trips accordingly. I went more then, even staying in resort rooms instead of points on some trips because I got AP discount rates as well.

Perhaps if they offered DVC members for example a product like a 2 or 3 day park only hoppers ( no water parks, pleasure island) that didn't expire, unlike the UPH. You can't buy them in this fashion on line, or at the parks. That would be good for many that weekend at DVC. If they give us a special product that gives us a discount and recognizes us as a special group - that would be nice. It would get many of us back into their parks more often & create a sense of recognition/loyalty on Disney's part. Going back to giving them our future vacation dollars when we purchased, it would be nice to see something offered to our select group that recognizes the commitment we made to Disney when we purchased.

Perhaps a special ticket media product unique to DVC membership is the route to go. No entitlements, just something select/different at a small discount that recognizes loyalty

~ Linda

 

[DeeP]

FWIW, I seriously doubt that those of us who post on this forum are typical of the overall DVC population, anyway

I agree, nor do I think the number of DVC members who are on this board is really a significant number when compared to the actual number of DVC members in the real world.
However many on this board refuse to believe this and continue to post polls and threads to prove their point of what DVC members want or do etc based on the numbers of members on this board vs the real number of DVC members.
Just to comment on the OP, we have been going to WDW on a very regular basis since the '70's, we have been buying APs for many years and buying a DVC membership did not change our park attendence at all. If we did not want to go to the WDW parks, we would have bought another timeshare in Orlando for a heck of a lot cheaper than DVC costs.
USW, IOA, SW etc are very nice parks but IMO they can't even begin to compare to the quality that a Disney parks gives you.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Originally posted by LisaR
We may spend more but it isn't necessarily Disney that is making a profit from this. This was my family before DVC:

Flew to WDW one time a year.
Stayed in a WDW Resort. Had to eat out almost every meal because we didn't have a kitchen. Went to the parks almost every day because we knew it would be at least one year if not longer before we would return. So, Disney made a lot of money on us (cash for the resort, all meals, tickets, gifts, hardly ever left the property).

Now, here is our family since buying into DVC. We go home 3 times a year (although one of those times might be to HH or VB). However, Disney isn't getting any cash from me now for booking a resort. Second, we have a full kitchen and we ALWAYS have a few meals and tons of snacks in our room. Remember, Disney used to get 3 meals a day out of us. Also, since we can go more often and we have found other things we like to do more. We don't go to the parks all the time anymore. Since many of these things are off property, we eat many more meals off property. Plus, we don't buy lots of stuff anymore. We want to spend our money on DVC merchandise which we all know is slim pickings. I have enough character tee's and sweatshirts.

This is exactly what I believe is more typical of DVC owners. Our last pre-DVC trip was Polynesian Lagoon View Concierge (not cheap, even with FTP) and we ate all meals on-site.

MiaSRN62, I apologize - I wasn't asking you for hard facts; I don't have them either. I just see one camp which says "DVCers spend more" and another saying "DVCers spend less" and I wonder who is really right.

And a tip of the DrTomorrow topper to dianthus - that's a great idea! A special "DVC Member" ticket with features that mean something to a DVC Member - fewer days, and no expiration - would at least recognize the 80,000+ loyal guests. I like it!

 

[MiaSRN62]

I am totally confused. In this post you are saying you spend more money at Disney since you became DVC members, yet in your other posts on this thread you say you are not spending as much money at Disney because you go off site etc.

I suppose I should have clarified we used to buy AP's up until recently (maybe 2 years ago). The prices of them just made it not as good a value, as did the newer renewal policy associated with them. So really, had the AP policy not changed (to where the 1 year clock starts ticking from the time you renew), we'd still be frequenting the parks more because I could see us doing that when we initially became members. We made 3+ visits in our first year as DVC Members with AP's. It's really just been recently that we've gone back to Hoppers & us going back offsite again for dining and shopping etc. Sorry for the confusion and hope I've clarified that point for you Deep and anyone else.
I've made my peace with this thread---stated my opinon. Thanks for listening. I think each and every individual will continue to see it their way. I also feel the variable is so different for everyone in how they spend money as a DVC'er.
Like in a previous post by CarolMN :

It is very reasonable to believe that Disney/DVC already has lots of data on DVC members. They know what tickets we purchase at check in and they certainly know which of us purchase APs (and how often). Certainly they know/collect information on what we charge back to our rooms. I'm willing to bet that Disney has entire departments/divisions whose main function is collecting and analyzing data.

I don't think Disney is able to track most of mine (and I'm sure others) spending. I don't buy my Hoppers directly from them.....we rarely, if ever use our room charge etc. Yes, I'm sure they collect some data about our spending, but most of our spending is with cash/travlers checks or on our cc from home to ticket brokers etc. So I really have to wonder how good a handle they have on all this ? And again, I never said I felt entitled to a ticket discount---and def not expecting to see one.

 

[MiaSRN62]

we would have bought another timeshare in Orlando for a heck of a lot cheaper than DVC costs.

We actually do own offsite (a week we bought in '94 with a family member) and use that week for staying on Hutchinson Island, right on the beach in SE FL now. We can also use it to stay in the Lake Buena Vista area if and when we choose or even split the stay between beach and WDW location.

USW, IOA, SW etc are very nice parks but IMO they can't even begin to compare to the quality that a Disney parks gives you.

Agreed. We adore the relaxing atmoshere of the DVC resorts and would never consider buying any timeshare on Universal property. Even if we don't frequent the WDW parks as often as we used to for reasons already stated, we still find we can enjoy our time spent at OKW or the other DVC resorts. We don't regret our decision to become Members at all and don't feel we need to hit the parks to validate our purchase. Just staying in a DVC resort can be a vacation unto itself

 

[Muushka]

MiaSRN62 and dianthus said my sentiments exactly. My problem with Disney came about when they changed the AP renewal policy. We had already bought into DVC and then they changed the policy. While the bean counters at WDW thought they scored a tremendous $$ making idea for WDW, it was a very bad decision for this bean counter. Trust me, the money they saved on that change cost WDW a lot more in profits from us than they made in ticket sales.

On a lighter note, at least now when people post that they will not visit the parks, but go to other Orlando attractions, they are not chastised by other DVC members.

 

[DeeP]

Disney was very well aware of the negative feelings AP holders had when they changed their renewal policy. I was also an AP holder who was not happy, but in all reality the only thing we lost was the renewal discount which really only amounted to about $30.00. Given the advantage of 365 days of unlimited use for 4 parks vs a park hopper ticket, that $30.00 is really a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of a WDW vacation. Now we just renew our APs when we take our next trip rather than as soon as they expire. For the first year of this change I was not happy but I soon got over it and realized that an AP was still the best bargain for us.
As I said before Disney is very aware that AP holders were not thrilled with the AP renewal change but if they were really losing a substantal amount of money, I am sure Disney would have changed the AP renewal policy back to the orginal way it was. Since the AP renewal policy has stayed the same for several years now, I would venture to guess Disney is not losing enough money for them to even worry about.

 

[jkevinmcg]

Originally posted by crisi
Kevin,

I'm heavily invested in Disney. I own a timeshare there and I want to make sure that the company continues to make money and that the timeshare retains its value - not financial - but value to my family and me. If the parks don't make money, if they aren't maintained well, I have something that is worth much less to me than it is now.

Moreover, I'm a Disney shareholder. As such, it is important that Disney make money. Money given to you in the form of a discount could be money taken out of my dividend check.

Third, I hate the entitlement mentality. "We are family, we deserve a discount." Blah. Corporations don't have family (ask Katzenberg). And I'm glad you aren't part of my family if you think that "family" means you should get to take advantage of me or if you think family is something you buy into. We deserve what we paid for - quality accomodations. I think I'm getting quite the deal to get a 2 bedroom unit in a deluxe hotel for a mere $242 a night at Disney (which is what my last vacation cost us - point cost per year plus maintenance). Frankly, it seems greedy to expect more.

Now, if Disney can give me a discount, maintain the value of the property, and keep revenues the same (or even increase them), I'll be happy to take it. But no one here has the data to say that that is the case (or for that matter, isn't the case).

Wow this thread generates some passion!

Crisi

Family means that you take care of your own. Perhaps you missed that point. Fl residents get consideration. What's so bad about DVCers getting some consideration? I would venture to guess that thousands of members feel the same way. However I do agree with you on one point; I'm glad I am not part of your family! Of all the posts taking the same side as I did, you chose mine to make it personal.

Perhaps you should petition Disney to take away all discounts so your investment stays safe! And while your at it, you can lobby for an increase in admission to all parks!

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by DrTomorrow
I'm going to tread very lightly here, as this is starting to remind me of the "Great AP Room Rate Discount War" of 2003.

Gee, and I thought you were "DrTomorrow", not "DrLivingVicariouslyThroughLastYear'sPosts".

I skimmed the thread and didn't see anyone raise this specific point, and I think it might add an interesting dimension to the debate.

When the Member Homecoming was first announced with rates that included park passes, DVC's rationale for including the passes was that only 12% of DVC members were AP holders. I think it's reasonable to assume that DVC members are fairly savvy ticket purchasers. It doesn't take long for people to develop their own travel plan, and decide whether the most economical option is Hopper, UPH, AP, etc.

Granted that 12% figure has some margin for error, I think it still illustrates that many, many DVC members are NOT regular AP holders.

If so, doesn't it stand to reason that there may actually be a financial incentive to reduced AP pricing? One of Disney's most captive audiences only chooses the unlimited admission option a small percentage of the time.

Perhaps DVC does need to acknowledge a level of ambivalence that sets in for long-time DVC members. Assuming that DVC owners will spend all of their resort days in the park may be a flawed premise.

 

[DeeP]

That is if you believe the 12% figure, I don't. I know Disney does not track guests spending, passes etc as well as some people think they do. The reason I know this is, Disney has some things listed under my NJ address, some listed under my FL address, some listed under my kids names at either NJ or FL (which by the way my kids have NEVER paid anything to Disney for rooms, meals, passes, etc.) and NONE of the various names/addresses that Disney has listed for my family are linked in their system. From my experience, Disney's tracking system leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Originally posted by DeeP
From my experience, Disney's tracking system leaves a lot to be desired.

Yes, we have recieved other guests CRO reservation confirmations sent to our address. I really doubt Disney is able to link all aspects of a DVCers vacation habits together. Especially how long a guest is staying at a park. You don't scan your ticket when you leave.

 

[LisaR]

Regarding tracking systems by DVC and Disney, do you think the 80,000 members is really correct? I am not saying it is or isn't. I honestly don't have a clue. However, I do question it. We have two contracts. We get very odd mailings. For one event, newsletter, etc we will get only one mailing in either my name or dh. The next time we will each get one. The time after that we will get 3 or one time 4! They have me down with my first and last name and with my first, last and middle initial. Same with dh. I tried to correct it and it seems fine and next thing you know we get multiple mailings. We have a friend that is a member who has had the same problems. They only have one contract and they almost always get two mailing with the name just a little different on each. Maybe that is just the mailing system that is screwed up but it always makes me wonder if there are really 80,000 individual people from 80,000 different households that actually own DVC.

Lisa