DVC Annual Pass Discount going away?

[DebbieB]

i think it's disney's rule, not FL's.

but i think it is in the DVC paperwork that ownership doesn't qualify you for resident status. i would doubt that would change.

if i'm not going to disney, i'm not interested in paying a premium to stay onsite at wdw...i can stay at other timeshares in orlando for a fraction of the price of DVC.

i doubt DVC sales will plummet but i'm certain that many current owners will reevaluate whether their ownership is worth it.

I doubt they would change the Florida Resident rule wording, it would cause issues down the line if they decide to pull back on it or open other options for Florida Residents. Matching the price is good enough for me.

I have my doubts this is true but I would like to know. Disney has been displaying how money hungry they are lately with all these overpriced special parties, I wouldn't be surprised.

My AP (actually the promo PAP from late 2012) just expired and I don't plan a WDW trip until late next year so did not renew. I was thinking I would buy a new voucher before the next price increase, this year they increased in February. So if they are going to end it, I want to buy a voucher before then.

 

[Shellandscott]

Honestly I preferred the old way where we got a percentage off the ticket price. The Annual pass discount is nice but we feel pressured to getting the most of of it. Would rather just get a savings on the 3 day ticket if that is all we need.

 

[DebbieB]

Honestly I preferred the old way where we got a percentage off the ticket price. The Annual pass discount is nice but we feel pressured to getting the most of of it. Would rather just get a savings on the 3 day ticket if that is all we need.

The old way was 10% off Length of Stay ticket. When that ticket no longer existed, the AP discount came out.

They are counting on you wanting to make extra trips with the AP because you don't have to buy a ticket. I know my first one I planned on 2 trips, 51 weeks apart. Turned into 5 trips! I don't know why they would want to discourage members from buying AP's. Sure they already have the room money from the points, but you will be spending extra money on food & souvenirs. I've even stayed on cash at non-DVC hotels when I didn't have points to use. In May, we did 4 nights at VGF and then 4 nights on cash at WL.

 

[JessLCH]

Well, if I need to renew APs (expiring mid January), can I do it before they expire so I can ensure the current discount or do I have to wait until they actually expire? Will the new pass begin on purchase date or expiration date of old passes? This thread has me thinking I should reneew sooner than later.

 

[DebbieB]

Well, if I need to renew APs (expiring mid January), can I do it before they expire so I can ensure the current discount or do I have to wait until they actually expire? Will the new pass begin on purchase date or expiration date of old passes? This thread has me thinking I should reneew sooner than later.

You can renew 60 days before up to 30 days after. A renewal begins on the expiration date of the old one.

 

[Missyrose]

Well, if I need to renew APs (expiring mid January), can I do it before they expire so I can ensure the current discount or do I have to wait until they actually expire? Will the new pass begin on purchase date or expiration date of old passes? This thread has me thinking I should reneew sooner than later.

You have two options:

1) Wait until you are 60 days out from your expiration date (which is soon) and renew your current pass -- which will keep the same expiration date.

2) Buy a new AP and activate whenever you'd like (that would be your new expiration date).

We're currently in the same boat. Our APs expire in late January (we can renew starting Dec.2). So we've gone back and forth on whether to hedge our bets and just buy a new AP that we can activate in April (our first trip after the pass expires). It definitely feels like gambling when it comes to this rumor.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Well, if I need to renew APs (expiring mid January), can I do it before they expire so I can ensure the current discount or do I have to wait until they actually expire? Will the new pass begin on purchase date or expiration date of old passes? This thread has me thinking I should reneew sooner than later.

Isn't the Association meeting on the 12th? My bet would be that if this is going to happen at all/be announced, it will be shortly after that meeting (but not at it because of the controversy that may surround it unless they replace it with something better).

 

[WilsonFlyer]

You can renew 60 days before up to 30 days after. A renewal begins on the expiration date of the old one.

I've never understood the 60 day before thing. I totally get the 30 after but the 60 before just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Missyrose]

Isn't the Association meeting on the 12th? My bet would be that if this is going to happen at all/be announced, it will be shortly after that meeting (but not at it because of the controversy that may surround it unless they replace it with something better).

Oh, good point! I hadn't thought about the timing of the meeting. Maybe they will hold out until afterward.

 

[cvjw]

I've never understood the 60 day before thing. I totally get the 30 after but the 60 before just doesn't make sense to me.

I bet it is so that you can make FP+ reservations at the 60 day mark if you have an onsite stay planned. You would be out of luck if your 60 day FP+ window opened up, but your AP expired before your trip and you could only renew at the 30 day mark. With the 60 day renewal window, you can renew and be ready to make FP+ reservations at the 60 day mark.

 

[lovin'fl]

Only read page 1 of thread.

I have 505 DVC points with intentions of adding more. DH and I are 41 and our 3 kids are in HS. In 2.5 years our kids will all be in college and we will be living in NC (in MD now but bought condo in Durham last month). The plan was to have about 600 points for 6 DVC trips per year for DH and I as a form of snow birding (4-5 at WDW and 1-2 at HHI). We have PAPs now and had APs before that and would continue to get the AP/PAP for the 2 of us (the kids don't want to really vacation all that much with us now and probably won't until they are older). I am split on how I feel about this rumor.

On one hand, I like the cost of the 4 park/4 day thing and would use that and then just go into the parks way way less thus saving us money. But I wouldn't need to add on anymore points either...saves us money again. And I might sell my 200 OKW and maybe add a few more HHI (no AP needed there), like 75. DH has always said we should just add all HHI points as they are cheapest to buy after VB (higher dues but that cheaper buy in is nice). And we're liking Universal so we could just spend time there. So, I can work with this rumor...saves us money.

On the other hand, I was really looking forward to 4-5 WDW trips...Sept F&W, March F&G, Nov to see Xmas stuff, Jan low crowd time...and we like to hop in and out of the parks and spend the most time at Epcot. Not sure how the 4 park/4 day passes could work for that. Unless they could last the whole year and each trip we'd just do 1 park. Then we could hit Universal the other days.

Either way we'd spend less time at WDW parks and more time at US. The only way to keep us in their parks is to keep offering the AP discount or PAP special because when we buy AP/PAP then we feel the need to get as many days out of them as we can and find it hard to spend money on Universal or Seaworld when we have PAPs to use.

 

[Missyrose]

I bet it is so that you can make FP+ reservations at the 60 day mark if you have an onsite stay planned. You would be out of luck if your 60 day FP+ window opened up, but your AP expired before your trip and you could only renew at the 30 day mark. With the 60 day renewal window, you can renew and be ready to make FP+ reservations at the 60 day mark.

I believe the 60-day AP renewal window pre-dates FP+ by at least a few years.

 

[DebbieB]

I believe the 60-day AP renewal window pre-dates FP+ by at least a few years.

I think the change from 30 days before expiration to 60 days before was only about a year ago. It was a 60 day total window, so now it's actually 90 days total.

 

[WolfpackFan]

What this would do for us is to just start doing non-park trips. We're really getting burned out from WDW anyway and the only thing that keeps us going back is being able to get two annual trips from one set of AP's. Without the AP, we will just begin going down and staying at a resort and doing non-Disney stuff (I really would like to see Harry Potter anyway). We'll also be spending a lot more time at HHI and VB as well as using points for DCL cruises more. Basically do all those things that the DVC salesperson said we could do when we bought our points but everyone says is a bad use of points.

 

[LvsTnk]

I think the change from 30 days before expiration to 60 days before was only about a year ago. It was a 60 day total window, so now it's actually 90 days total.

Yes I renewed before the 60days to make my FP+ selections. I think we would keep ours because we have grandchildren and love AKV but we do go to the other parks as well. Sad news if its true.

 

[DebbieB]

Sometimes I think Disney likes to "float" rumors to see what the reaction will be. Like a couple years ago the rumor was resales could only stay at their home resort. Never happened.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3028134

 

[Brian Noble]

Like a couple years ago the rumor was resales could only stay at their home resort.

That was a timeshare salesman. You know the joke:

Q: How can you tell when a timeshare salesman is lying?
A: His lips are moving.

The "home resort only" thing is a bald-faced lie to try to get someone who is saying no to a developer purchase to say yes. This is a completely different beast.

I do expect that someday the AP discount will become less attractive or go away entirely. Based on the way Disney's accounting works, I'm fairly sure that DVD has to "pay" the Parks division something for this discount---probably not the full value, but probably something. That has to come from DVD, not DVCMC, because it's not an operating expense but is a sales incentive. But, over time, the Membership size (and number and value of the AP discounts) grows, while the monthly revenue from sales stays relatively constant. That's not sustainable in the long term.

That's all a guess mind you; I don't have any inside information at all. But, if you follow the money, that's where it takes you. The only real question is whether or not there is a transfer from DVD to Parks. It's possible that there isn't any such transfer, and Parks is doing this on their own because it increases ticket revenue from DVC Members overall---in that case, there is no sustainability problem, and the discount can continue as long as Parks thinks it brings in more business.

DVD/DVCMC probably doesn't care if existing members sell their contracts---someone else will buy them, so the Dues still get paid and that someone else will still stay in the resorts. Resale prices will drop a bit because there is more supply. There might also be a bit of a reduction in demand---some people buy small resale contracts only because of the AP discounts.

The only thing that will make DVD take notice is if direct sales are impacted. I'll wager that we are at a point where a reduction in resale price probably won't make a difference, because the gap is already so large that anyone who is considering resale carefully nearly inevitably goes that route. The absence of an AP discount might very marginally impact direct sales marketing, but probably not in a material way. Most direct purchases are coming from those looking to bottle the magical feeling they have on that trip and keep it for years "at today's prices." The AP discount is a sweetener, but that's all. A good Guide can work without it.

 

[chainkid]

My biggest problem with this is the state of the parks themselves. If I didn't own DVC and know I could come back as many times as I like, I would be really put out but how many times the major rides are broken down in every single park. I use my AP for the ambiance of Epcot at night. I rarely spend much time in the other parks any more as nothing much is new or running well . I'm holding off for a few years till the new land is open otherwise our family would be bored to tears after 30 something visits. Burn out is real and taking away AP's would only encourage us to use our points elsewhere like Aulani. I might live with one park per day if I could repeat that park in the four day period but the way it is now I would not be using my points at Disney much. I bought over 800 at BWV for retirement so I will spend my money outside of Disney . I still love the boardwalk and would miss going into Epcot but we have a car and can travel off site.

 

[DougEMG]

Aren't a significant number of DVC sales to existing owners as add ons. I would think that a lot of those owners that buy additional points make heavy use of the discounted annual pass and without that discounted pass they might not want to add on quiet so much.

We've been buying the discounted annual pass ever since we've been DVC members and have bought the PAP when its been on sale. If that discount were to go away, I'm not sure what we would do.

 

[MJ6987]

Surely not many people would have bought DVC on the basis of a perk being available that is reviewed every year?

Also, I am not sure that removing this perk would benefit Disney. If they do, it is likely that more DVC members would spend less time in Disney Parks and more time either in their DVC resort or in non-Disney Parks, ie spending less Disney dollars.