DVC and DLR???

[bdmphs]

I sent the following to Disney this morning...Any thoughts?

I have been a DVC owner since 2003 and a visitor of Disney Parks since 1978. My family and I spend 3 to 4 weeks a year at a Disney Property and my 8 year old son has already been on 27 Disney Vacations. I have always explained to people that the cost of the vacations goes down with the amount of times you travel and that DVC pays for itself. We are frequent annual pass holders in both coasts and have found the ability to catch a cheap flight to the park for the weekend a major bonus to annual passes. The recent increase in prices at Disneyland has brought one of my complaints about DVC to a new level. The current discount for AP at WDW is approx. 20%. This seems fair and has never alarmed me. The DLR discount was around 6% but I always felt that since the passes were less it was not as big a deal. With the increase it is down to 4%. It seems that those members who want to use there points at DLR are being treated unfairly. On top of that we are not able to do the monthly plan which would make it more affordable. While I understand that Disney needs to make money, I don't understand why the discounts can't keep up in with the increases percentage wise. I would offer the following suggestions
1) Make the Discounts offered to DVC members a percentage of pass cost instead of a dollar figure. This would allow you to raise prices and not raise them a high percentage on DVC owners.

2) Allow all DVC owners the monthly annual pass payment plan at either or both parks as part of there monthly dues payment plan.

Thank you for taking the time to read these comments.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Sorry, but you sound like you are whining that they are not treating you fairly. There isn't any requirement at all for DVC to get discounts on tickets. The AP discount only came a few years ago. Before that, for a few years, members were able to get a small discount on length of stay tickets (before they became MYW tickets and before the AP discount started). For a while there wasn't any discount at all on tickets.

They already have you, they won't lose anything at all if you stop coming or if you sell your DVC points. And they don't have any need at all to offer the payment plan for APs.

 

[permavac]

I think feedback is important to give when you are a long time customer of a business that is in the process of implementing changes that impact you. OP - your comments and suggestions sounded fair to me.

Terri

 

[DebbieB]

I don't think DL is high on DVC's priorities. The fact that they only built 48 rooms at VGC and don't have plans to expand seems to say that. They recently made GC rooms available under the Disney Collection but they are ridiculously high (starting at 39 points per night for a standard room in super value season).

 

[ACDSNY]

I agree West Coasters get ripped off. I have no desire to go to Florida all the time when we have DL so close. There latest price increases make me wonder how long we'll keep our current amount of points or if we'll scale back and only go every other year.

My other complaint is we can only purchase DL APs in person at DL to get the discount, where as, the WDW AP can be purchased on-line through the member website or MS.

 

[taaren]

I posted this over on your thread on the DLR board, but will repost here:

Because the VGC is so much smaller I don't think that DVC-ers are a crowd that DLR needs to please and cater to as much as WDW needs to. This is why the discount isn't as significant, and isn't likely to be very significant anytime in the near future (unless Iger changes his mind and builds another DL DVC or two).

There are DVC-ers that will go to WDW for a non-park vacation and just eat in restaurants at the resorts, go to the pools, and have a great time and never spend money in the parks. I can't imagine a vacation where I went to the Grand Californian and didn't go into DLR. So they know they have me, unfortunately.


I do wish they would increase the discount, or at the very least offer some non-expiring tickets or vouchers. I'd stock up, they'd be happy because they have my money now, I'd feel like I was "saving" even though with inflation its hard to tell whether or not that was actually the case.

I also wish they'd implement the biometric scanners to stop the people who sell off multiple day hoppers to several people, since that would mean they could sell longer park tickets and non-expiring options like WDW, and I think that would be a win-win situation for the DisneyParks division as well as make their customer base happier, and more likely to spend more money on both tickets and the extras.

I also wish they would see the Premier Passport at a discount, and offer it to be purchased either through member services or online at either the DVC site or at the Disney site. To me more people would get it then, and they would increase their revenue.


Btw, completely agree with the monthly installment plan for DVC-ers to buy APs. While a monthly installment plan doesn't make sense for them for the general population, a DVC-er for many reasons would be unlikely to empty his debit account to avoid paying for an AP, since its fairly obvious they're planning on coming back to the parks.

 

[RobDoc]

You should send your suggestions to DVCmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

They are usually good about a follow-up response. Please keep in mind that DVC has to negotiate these perks with the other divisions of the Walt Disney Company on a regular basis. The point charts reflect these negotiations on an annual basis for the Disney Collection (DCL, other Disney resorts), Concierge Collection, Adventure Collection and all other perks and discounts offered to DVC members.

While these negotiations are with sister orgnaizations within the same parent corporation, they are still governed by each of those divisions trying to insure a profit for their individual company. Park admission negotiations go thru the Theme Parks division who wants to maximize their profit. DVC needs to convince Theme Parks that there will be a profitiable benefit gained for that division by offering better discounts and payment plans to DVC members.

Members should keep asking for things they would like to see. When they have a large enough base of requests they might just be able to get some movement from Theme Parks in that direction.

Stay tuned!

 

[DebbieB]

I agree West Coasters get ripped off. I have no desire to go to Florida all the time when we have DL so close. There latest price increases make me wonder how long we'll keep our current amount of points or if we'll scale back and only go every other year.

My other complaint is we can only purchase DL APs in person at DL to get the discount, where as, the WDW AP can be purchased on-line through the member website or MS.

Someone posted on another thread that they went to the ticket window with their DVC card and the voucher and got the $20 refunded. I bought an AP yesterday, I'm going to try to get the discount when I go in September.