Does this bother anyone else????

[JonHM]

I must respectfully disagree. Early Entry was *cancelled* due to low crowds, that was what precipitated it going away in the first place.

I really do feel that Disney brought back EE due to the volume of complaints that they received. That said, a DVC discount is an entirely different issue, since it involves not just a decision on Disney's part but a business transaction between Disney and DVC.

PamOKW : I disagree with you that Disney would not benefit financially from offering discounted annual passes to DVC members. YES, we are going to the WDW resorts, but that does NOT mean that we are all going to and spending money in the PARKS. I see many people on these boards speak of spending days at Universal, at Sea World, or just taking non-park vacations. The free tickets were called 'golden handcuffs' for a reason. I believe that if Disney were to offer annual passes at a price comparable to FL residents that they would, in fact, make a LOT more money off of DVC members, when you factor in money spent in the parks on souvenirs, clothing and food.

 

[PamOKW]

JonHM -- I agree that easy access to the parks would increase our spending in the parks. But, I don't think large enough numbers of DVC'ers are spending large enough amounts of money offsite for them to feel a need to offer the incentive. It seems as if many DVC'ers continue to purchase the LOS which is discounted. I don't think this is a good value, but it may be another reason why they aren't interested in offering additional pass discounts.

All of our "discounts" are really ways to drive to business to different restaurants, stores, etc. They aren't "rewards". I know we've all spent a lot of money and are told we are "family" but that's all really just puff. We purchased vacation accomodations at WDW at a fair rate. They don't feel a need or see a reason to offer us "rewards". They don't have any program in place to reward those who return to the Disney hotels over and over with pass discounts. These people are also loyal and spending lots of money. In fact, a few Grand Plan stays at the GF easily equal the cost of a 150 membership in DVC. Heck, DVC wasn't even able to contain the costs for us to stay at the WDW resorts. I'm not sure what leverage they have to demand discounts for us.

 

[Eeyore2U]

Originally posted by JonHM
I must respectfully disagree. Early Entry was *cancelled* due to low crowds, that was what precipitated it going away in the first place.

I really do feel that Disney brought back EE due to the volume of complaints that they received. That said, a DVC discount is an entirely different issue, since it involves not just a decision on Disney's part but a business transaction between Disney and DVC.

JonHM,

We will have to agree to disagree on EE. I will stand by my statement that "Disney didn't care about the complaints but cared about low attendance" but I do repsect your opinion.

 

[raidermatt]

As to complaining about something that won't change, I have to disagree. Early Entry is back, and due entirely to the huge uproar of guests who did NOT sit back and accept the status quo. If you want change, you have to LOBBY for it. Disney knows this (as they try to hold on to Mickey), and will NOT change until a significant portion of the DVC members express and act on their unhappiness.

Ok, I'm not saying you shouldn't complain about something if you don't like it, because you should, but.....

Eeyore2U is right, it was low attendance, and probably more importantly, low resort bookings that brought EE back. The complaints were loudest in the first months after EE's elimination...

As for the original question, no, it doesn't bother me personally one bit. But that's because I understand this is an incentive being offered where its needed most.

Disney does have to recognize that selective discounts will be met with some level of anger by those who aren't in the selected group, but my guess is that the number who even know about things like Canadian discounts is very small (except maybe in Canada...). While I'm not confident in every decision Disney is making, I'm pretty sure they are doing more good than harm with this one.

 

[Rob&Jan]

As Canadians, DVC members and Disney nuts we look for all the discounts we can find as I'm sure everyone does. The exchange rate is a killer which is why we waited as long as we did to join DVC. To put it into perspective our $12,000 points purchase was actually $19,200 in Canadian money. Please don't take that as a complaint its not. We love Disney and have always felt a warm welcome whenever we travel in the United States so no matter what the exchange rate or ticket prices we will be back for many years to come. We would also like to thank everyone for their warm welcome to DVC. Its good to be home!!!!!

 

[CrayzeeDiz]

Any discount Disney gives I'm all for.



Hey what about a decent discount to the most loyal Disney patrons; the DVC members...

 

[stlphil]

I think this announcement is great for the Canadians, but I still have serious concerns about it. I'm surprised no one has pointed to the ominous precedent of creating park hopper passes that expire. Now that I am worried about!