Does the new Genie+ pay-per-attraction system alter your views on DVC's value?

[davper]

My wife and I have been discussing selling our contracts for DVC. And today was talking again. She gave me the go ahead to sell them. I think what I want to do is sell all but my SSR. but instead of doing 3 nights at Uni and 8 at Disney, we will go opposite. APs are much cheaper and for $200 a night, we get unlimited Express Pass. I will miss the food options and having the kitchen, but I am sure we can find new places to try out.

The value is just not there anymore and if we sell, I will make about $50 per point in profit less commission.

 

[torstenmcg]

Any AP announcement will be very telling. If it's not still discounted, then I worry that a small part of this is a reflection of some bean counter thinking "We have hundreds of thousands of DVC members, and what have that captive audience done for us lately?" I hope this isn't a start of the blatant monetization targeting EXISTING DVC members. If it is, there is no question that they'll be able to boil many frogs.

 

[Jwaire]

What Chapek & D'Amaro seem to be missing is some people will just go less days. Instead of a 7 day vacation to Disney World where you are spending $$$ per night at your Disney Resort, eating at your favorite Disney restaurant, paying for daily admission, buying souvenirs, maybe you will scale it down to a 3 day trip with Genie+ and paid attractions. You could spend the rest of your vacation at the theme park across town or the beach.

We already know ROR, Mine Train and Ratatouille are going to be excluded from Genie+. I expect they'll add FOP to the list and of course, Tron. There's not many other rides that would warrant an extra cost. Most people are not going to pay per ride for a 15+ year old ride. It's going to limited to the latest and greatest.

 

[ICEMAN3205]

What if Disney’s plan is Genie+ free, but only for direct DVC members? Just in time for GF2 sales, and maybe that could actually help them sell out Riviera.

 

[Jwaire]

What if Disney’s plan is Genie+ free, but only for direct DVC members? Just in time for GF2 sales, and maybe that could actually help them sell out Riviera.

I was sort of waiting for them to drop the "and Genie+ is free for Disney deluxe resort guests." But they only offered a 1-2 hour head start on Lightening Passes.

 

[vacay77]

What if Disney’s plan is Genie+ free, but only for direct DVC members? Just in time for GF2 sales, and maybe that could actually help them sell out Riviera.

I wish that were the case, but I highly doubt it. It doesn’t seem to me like they value DVC members at all.

 

[Sandisw]

What if Disney’s plan is Genie+ free, but only for direct DVC members? Just in time for GF2 sales, and maybe that could actually help them sell out Riviera.

DPEP is a different division and they don't make decisions based on DVC sales. Now, could I see them offering DVC blue card owners, FL residents, and AP holders a discount? Possible.

It was just posted in the Rumors thread that people who purchase a package via Disney can add GP+ ahead of time, but it must be for every day of the ticket. Those who don't want it every day will have to pay daily.

I wonder if they will find a way to allow DVC reservations to purchase in advance for length of stay (for those that want to) since we can't do packages?

 

[CarolMN]

We already know ROR, Mine Train and Ratatouille are going to be excluded from Genie+. I expect they'll add FOP to the list and of course, Tron.

And probably Guardians of the Galaxy?

 

[Prince John Robin Hood]

Like others have said we're going to likely go fewer days to WDW and replace them with Universal days. Hopefully Disney will adjust the program and add some DVC benefits in the future.

 

[gkrykewy]

DPEP is a different division and they don't make decisions based on DVC sales. Now, could I see them offering DVC blue card owners, FL residents, and AP holders a discount? Possible.

It was just posted in the Rumors thread that people who purchase a package via Disney can add GP+ ahead of time, but it must be for every day of the ticket. Those who don't want it every day will have to pay daily.

I wonder if they will find a way to allow DVC reservations to purchase in advance for length of stay (for those that want to) since we can't do packages?

if there is no discount for purchasing length of stay, what on earth would be the point of that? You can’t reserve rides until the day of, so you’d be prepaying for the service, and losing some flexibility, for no benefit.

 

[zavandor]

So a $280 room for 1 night gets you 8 passes that would have been $70 each.

Universal has two types of passes.
One is valid for each ride only once and its cost varies per day, the higher the crowds are forecast, the higher the price.
With hotel stays the Unlimited version is included, which is amazing because you can ride any ride any time you want (usually the newest rides are excluded, currently Hagrid and maybe the new coaster?). The unlimited version costs more, around $130 per day. A night in a Deluxe for a family of 4 is by far cheaper than buying the passes for everyone for two days. Some people staying elsewhere pay for a throwaway room just for the passes.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I share exactly the same thoughts as you. I was really sad yesterday as I have only recently purchased DVC and with the pandemic I have not even been able to stay in RR yet. The culmination of all the losses in value, drop in quality and service, and constant increases in price, have brought me to this point. I am truly considering selling my DVC contract.
I have lost any good feeling about going to WDW. I purchased DVC in the hopes of ,in later years, enjoying WDW with some grandchildren. I remember in the beginning years staying off-site in the cheaper motels and then over the years being excited to stay at the All-Star values. Finally, after many years of saving we took the plunge and bought DVC, thinking our kids would never be able to afford WDW the way room prices were going up. Now I am gutted.
I thought the maintenance fees were rough as it was, but why even stay on property now? No fast pass 30 day booking window, pay each day for a daily fast pass or individual ride fast pass, and get your rear up and in the parks for 7am in the hopes of booking 1 fast pass. What happens if you actually pay the daily charge for genie fast passes and the ride goes down? Ticket prices have already gone up substantially, with no signs of leveling off.

It will be the very well-off that can afford to buy fast passes for themselves; double income no kids, not the families that have multiple kids that save and economize to afford the trip, or seniors that have spent years of their income supporting Disney.

I am afraid the price of DVC resales will tumble now. I was the 1 in our family that pushed for DVC, I was the biggest cheerleader for Disney, but I have zero good feeling or desire to go back. Maybe some of you can understand when I say, I feel like I had this wonderful partnership with Disney, where I loved everything Disney and supported them by buying annual passes, visiting annually, buying Disney merchandise every trip to give for birthday gifts and Christmas. Never looking at going anywhere else for my vacation.
But now I feel I am in a toxic relationship and no matter how much I would like to fix things I have zero power to do so. My only option is to stop giving them power over me, stop going , stop purchasing. I would like to think that many people together refusing to buy the fast passes might be able to make a change in direction where Disney changes its mind, but I don't think that there are enough people like myself who are willing to take a stand.
I am still figuring out if I can afford to sell my DVC at this point, or if I will lose a large portion of the hard earned cash I saved up all these years to buy DVC with.
I'm sorry my post is so long, but I just feel gutted and sad. For those of you who will say that Disney is a business etc, has shareholders etc, I am one of those shareholders. (I actually was so proud to have Disney shares and framed my certificate). I bought my children a Disney share each for Christmas when they were little, so we could frame their certificates and have them up on our wall, because we felt like we were part of the Disney family. Now the magic is gone.

Toxic relationship is a really good description. After going to Disney more than once a year for the last 25 years with my husband, later +kids, and with my own parents yearly before that when I was a “kid,” we went to universal for the first time this summer. Bought annual passes with ever having seen the place. And OMG... there is a whole, wonderful world out there. There is life beyond Disney and I am so thankful for Universal’s lack of pretension and artifice and efficiency and professionalism. Disney has really gone down the tubes. I can’t even get through to a customer service agent in a timely manner. Try calling universal. People actually answer the phone in less than five minutes (less than one minute for me actually). It’s like you are back in 2000 or 2010. Things work. They make sense. You don’t wait for buses at universal. Like they are actually there. No one goes through your bags- you just go metal detectors lickity split. The hotel rooms are clean. The park is clean. The park restrooms are clean!! And the employees do not speak to you in an affected way. They all seem a lot more put together than Disney employees too. And a lot happier. So, don’t be afraid to stop buying Disney junk at Christmas. There is a whole world out there.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

That has been my experience with “numbers guy(s)” that I’ve worked with as well. I think that def adds some fuel to the fire here for me personally.

Fully agreed though! I think you nailed it. Eisner (albeit not creative like Walt but certainly was very passionate for creative work) and Wells are another lesser but still good example to support that duo theory for Disney’s success.

If Chapek does last, then I hope he does (at the very least) attain and strongly defer to that caliber of creative counsel somehow. It does seem like a great recipe for success with a company like Disney.

Except that they have gotten rid of all their creative people.

 

[GinaLuvsWDW]

I had considered buying DVC because I used to go all the time. But I didn’t and with all the changes I’m so glad I didn’t. I don’t have small children so I didn’t use the luggage pick up with DME but I did use DME. With DME, DDP and free fast passes WDW was an easy and actually quite affordable vacation. Many times we stayed in deluxe resorts and didn’t go to parks (so many other things to do in WDW) and if we were doing parks, usually during free dining, a value resort was fine since we were just sleeping there.
Now with all the perks gone, there’s really no point. I’ve never been to Universal but my next theme park trip will be there instead. And all the quick trips down for a long weekend at Disney will now be to places like Margaritaville in Orlando or Ft Lauderale.

 

[gisele2]

Y'all must have been much better at Fast Pass than I was, pre-Covid. I never got 7D or Slinky Dog or anything

I was able to secure 3 FP before noon, (including 7D, FOP etc) then for my family (10) we were able to secure after that all our rides on FP, one at a time. We did 10 to 15 rides a day.

So I will miss the FP + a lot.

 

[eandt]

Universal Express pass is $70 / ticket…

Yet it's free with a deluxe resort stay?

 

[pianomanzano]

To Do LIst-
1) Cancel March anniversary trip
2) Set up DVC points for sale
3) Find a new Chase card to take the place of the Disney VISA.

I believe the chase preferred card has a 100k bonus offer going on right now

 

[thptrek]

Take into consideration that we as DVC members are a small (albeit significant) portion of the WDW market. Also, the people who are active here are another small sliver. We all recognize that WDW attendance has greatly increased but WDW itself has not really increased attractions.

Many of us thought Boo Bash was too expensive for what you get but it is selling out.

I think the ultimate answer is to add another "world." Maybe something like DisneySea like at Tokyo. I went there and was blown away by how awesome it was.

 

[kanerf]

Not selling DVC right now, but would be interested in buying more points. My hope is that this move by Disney might start bringing resale back to earth. Right now the pricing is ridiculous, close to the cost of retail. I am hoping for something on the monorail as my next purchase.

 

[Sandisw]

if there is no discount for purchasing length of stay, what on earth would be the point of that? You can’t reserve rides until the day of, so you’d be prepaying for the service, and losing some flexibility, for no benefit.

Not sure other than for many first time visitors who don’t have the experience with any other way it’s just done and paid for?

Of course, we have to see if they offer it as a promotion “free” add on like “free dining” or room discounts. Pay rack rate and it’s included.

I can see lots of options for cash guests. For us, No way will we pay it for every day even at a discount.

I honestly have loved not having to plan and trying to get info from all my guests. It’s now go with the flow and prioritize