DVC Annual Pass Discount going away?

[SpaceMountain77]

If true, then we would likely go from two WDW trips per year to one WDW trip and one trip to Vero Beach.

 

[Missyrose]

I forgot you can't even buy the "no expiration" option anymore (which was ridiculously overpriced to begin with but that's another thread). This stinks to high heaven. There's no way this is going to happen. If it does, they are way stupider than I had even grown to give them credit for.

You can't buy the no-expire tickets online anymore. But you can still buy them via phone or ticket window.

 

[lovin'fl]

You can't buy the no-expire tickets online anymore. But you can still buy them via phone or ticket window.

ANd from other online places like UT. A 10 day is the same cost as 2 of the 5 day park hoppers...which is how we'd use them (on 2 trips) and both options are about $750. So, it makes no sense to buy the 10 day non expiry. And we won't pay $750 for a year's worth of trips. About $500 is our threshold (per year for ticketing).

 

[bwang123]

and if they do get rid of this perk, i hope everyone that believes this negatively impacts their travels notifies disney. we made two additional trips in a 12 month period because of discounted APs. without it, we most likely will only visit one time a year. that's two less weeks of our money going to disney.

 

[Tigger1]

I think DVD is doing the 4 day ticket to appeal to new members that do not understand the addiction to DVC yet. Get new members to buy in as they will be able to buy tickets for just $199.

As I mentioned before, without a Annual pass discount I will be back to one trip per year at the most. Will use some of the water park passes we got years ago that do not expire, check out Universal, Sea World, Lego land, Nasa, Beaches to the East and West that are just an hour drive. Roam around DTD a night or two. Also stay at resort, eat most meals in room and relax. I bet my plan is what a lot of us DVC members that have been around for a while will do. This might be a good thing for us.

I would like to see DVC members get at least an equivalent Florida annual pass
Rate. I never did have the chance to get the Annual plus pass deal but was no big deal as I have all those water parks left from old tickets.

 

[bonrea]

As I have posted in another thread before: That's just it! We are getting something of value for our money. We paid up front for a deluxe room for every time we go to WDW or the other resorts for DVC. The room at a good discount. That's it.

You have to understand the Disney has changed radically from the Walt Disney himself in the company days. Walt concentrated on the "guests" and what made people happy which in turn made him happy. This new company is concentrating on the stock holders and the money. Disney takes in VERY LITTLE revenue from the hotels and restaurants and even the park tickets. The revenue is from all the junk people buy and haul away from there. Yes, you buy anything and that is pure profit for the Disney Company. I'm sure there is a profit on the other charges but the vast majority of profit is on the merchandise.

We DVC Members are a captive audience for Disney. We are hooked. Their plan today is for us to go, and go, and GO, and buy and buy, and BUY things. The more we go the more we buy. We complain about the dues going up. We complain about the lack of good maintenance of the DVC rooms. They can’t pay high wages for the staff if we don’t want to pay for it. I’ve actually stopped complaining about that and ask at the meetings that they stop expanding and concentrate on what they have for a while. Hmmm…

We... DVC Members... We are the BEST word-of-mouth advertising for anything Disney. I cannot and will not recommend anyone pay $150+ per point no matter which resort it is. That is unbelievable. I nearly fell in the floor when a cast member gave me that price. I laughed in his face and walked away. There are too many resorts in one place, they are spending too much time on new resorts in the same Florida location and not on the upkeep of the existing ones. Give us some resorts in the continental US where we can afford to drive to with something non-Disney to teach our kids about. The resort in D.C. was a great IDEA and I was geared up to buy points there.

The only thing I keep hearing about is how wonderful the new resorts are and how many points DVD has sold at them. "Oh you better get on the band wagon because this or that resort is almost sold out!!!"

The room at a heavy spread over 50 years discount is good, but that is not how they pitch the magic. When DVC first started DVC Members were so special that we got park tickets for free and a lot of other "Perks." All of the perks that were worth a dang are gone now.

OH! It used to be "Disney's Best Kept Secret." They have so many resorts now that the parks are so crowded that they have to build extra rings round the hub in the Magic Kingdom to support all the people and they charge extra for entrance to the Magic Kingdom over the other parks. If they are not careful they will price themselves out of the market for the common folk. I'm there now. I only go and spend time at the pool at the resort because it is paid for and I pay the dues.

If they keep raising the park ticket prices the old question of "is it worth the value of the DVC Points to use them on DCL" will become a "You're Dang Right It is" statement.

rant off....

 

[bonrea]

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.

Keep in mind that the more we buy into DVC and the less we use our points the more money Disney can add to their bottom line. We pay for the points. We pay for the dues. We use the rooms less often. Disney turns more rooms over for general public use. The more money Disney makes off the same room they have already basically sold to DVC members.

It would be better for us DVC members to go more often and not spend any other money while on property. That would hurt the bottom line of Disney. I doubt it but that may encourage Disney to add back the perks.

 

[brelyt]

I get that you are all mad, but realistically the discount only saves you $150. And yes I get that with a family of 4 that is $600, but is that really going to make you travel less or go to universal more, where you are going to spend $100+ a day per person on tickets alone? If you are like me, you are already spending thousands each year on Disney travel: air, food, dues, tickets, souvenirs. If this rumor is true, it will suck, but I doubt it change anyone's travel plans. Disney knows this. The real problem is not the money, it's that the discount makes us feel good, feel important. After all we are Disney's biggest fans.

 

[disneymath]

I understand that losing the AP discount would be a huge disappointment for some; but as a PP mentioned, the discount compared to the overall cost of multi trips per year is small.

Based on my own reality, I wonder what percent of all DVC owners (not just here on the DIS or similar online sites) actually purchase APs and make those multi trips per year.

APs don't make sense for my family, and were not a factor in my decision to buy in to DVC. We're one trip a year visitors for the most part and we tend to stay for at least a week. (Airfare x 8 just doesn't make multiple quick trips feasible.) In that week we'll divide our time between the parks, the waterparks and sometimes somewhere offsite (e.g. Legoland). I don't think we're unique in our travel patterns (though our party size is likely larger than average).

Honestly, the current 4-day ticket offer is better for us than an AP ... even though the one visit per park and no hopping isn't ideal.

 

[brelyt]

Based on my own reality, I wonder what percent of all DVC owners (not just here on the DIS or similar online sites) actually purchase APs and make those multi trips per year.

Would be interesting fact to know. My guess is it's not that high a percentage if Disney is willing to entertain this idea.

 

[Tozzie]

I have read most of this thread and I can't wrap my head around the fact that so many people claim to have purchased DVC for the ticket discount. That is extremely poor financial planning. I really have my doubts as to the veracity of those statements but it is more of something to complain about so you have something to whine about. Sell your points if that is what you want but don't hide behind the lloss of the discount as the reason for it. an

 

[DougEMG]

One of the reasons I like the AP is because while we go for a lot of days, lots of times I'm only in the park for 2-3 hours a day and I need to have that entrance cost low enough to make that worth while doing. There is a limit to what I'm willing to spend to walk around Epcot Eating and shopping.

This year we ended up spending time at Universal where we bought the annual pass with black out days. $200, what a deal. Wasn't planning on it originally, but am going to rent a car and go up to Universal over Christmas instead of goofing to Disney every day.

 

[Tigger1]

With Tickets and the Dining plan increasing in price I just do not see as many trips in the future for myself. I live over 1300 miles away which is not bad when flying but takes two long days to drive. If I do not get an annual pass discount I will just do one long trip per year or two. I will also drive to Florida and spend more time at the resort or seeing other places in the area since I will have a car and have a limited number of days on my WDW ticket. No more set down meals at the parks as that takes away valuable park ticket time when your days are limited.

I was excited about the 4 day ticket until the no hopping and dates were listed. Not a ticket for those with children or Grandchildren that are school.

 

[Mousewerks]

One of the reasons I like the AP is because while we go for a lot of days, lots of times I'm only in the park for 2-3 hours a day and I need to have that entrance cost low enough to make that worth while doing. There is a limit to what I'm willing to spend to walk around Epcot Eating and shopping.

This is the main benefit of an Annual pass -- park hopping. I am somewhat of the mind that Disney is attempting to do away with park hopping though I don't know why they would want to do that. The current FastPass+ system is not amenable to park hopping. Yes, you can do it, but it's not 'easy' (debatable of course). So park hopping is relegated to 'access to restaurants', mainly at Epcot.

We have only held an AP once and that was because we could see a need for it.
We are unlikely to need it again due to our travel patterns, but I would like to keep the park-hopping ability and will purchase that. I'm not likely to worry about holding non-expiring tickets and will likely find a way to increase my income to cover the cost.

Let's face it, Disney is a highly desired good in the world. The only way to keep the attendance in check is to raise ticket prices. This is how capitalism works. Yes, it's a fine line to not raise them too high, too quickly but this is how a scarce resource is allocated among the masses. Same goes for per night point costs at the highly desired DVC properties. Now pricing isn't as elastic there so they have to make a decision when they bring the properly online. I do not think point costs for VGF are out of line at all. It is a very scarce resource and should be priced high. Yes, we all value such things differently and don't like it much when we recognize we don't have the capability to afford the scarce resource. Such is life. The alternative of course is to make things cheap and then complain because you can't get access to it due to all the other people vying for access. Time would be the only arbiter in that case. No thank you.

 

[jillmc40]

IF they did decide to do away with this perk...Would they give notice? Or one day do you wake up and POOF - it's gone? We are going in April, first time as DVC, and we were hoping to upgrade our tickets to AP's...If it were to go away and I had notice, I would buy AP's first and save my tickets to upgrade some other time...

The 4 day pass does nothing for me...We go 10 days at a time and we do 2 of those trips inside of a year to make the most of the AP...Then of course I convince the family to go on a *FREE* trip in the middle I did that before we were DVC, and I would still do it if they took the discount away. But darn, I wanted to get the discount at least ONCE!!! I don't think the 4 day will be the only thing they offer, that would be ludicrous! Come, stay for a week, but only go to each park once! That isn't how a DVC'er rolls (I don't think anyway)! I love the idea of staying at BWV, strolling into Epcot for dinner and going back to the pool...Or staying at VGF and taking the monorail to MK for breakfast, whatever. The AP makes you not care if you go to a park for an hour or 2...Paying per day (4 days at that) and no hopping? Blah!

I wonder what the average length of stay is for a DVC'er? I would guess they would cater to that crowd?

How long has the AP discount been around?

 

[lovin'fl]

There is the AP and PAP discount that we have been getting for a few years (I bought in 2006 and remember the option most of the time I've owned...we got the DVC APs in 2011 and then got the 2 special deals...we don't renew but let a couple-few months lapse in between). The PAP special that I have right now (where they offered the PAP for basically the same price as the DVC AP discounted cost...had to buy by 12/31/13 and activate by ????1/31/15????) is different from the AP and PAP DVC discount. This was the 2nd time offering a special deal (can't remember if the 1st was a PAP deal or AP deal, but we bought it and we bought this last one too). This rumor is about losing the AP and PAP discounted pricing (which is same a FL residents...DVC will lose but FL residents will not, I assume???). Not sure if they will continue to offer the special deals but that is no guarantee.

I would hope they would give notice. But you could buy the DVC APs now and then wait to activate them when needed (the regular DVC AP or PAP can be activated anytime...the special deal always has restrictions on when they need to be activated by).

I wonder too what the DVC average length of stay is. I wonder if there has been a poll...maybe I will make one (first I'll do a search).
ETA: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1881536&highlight=length+of+stay from years ago so maybe time for new poll, but it seems 5 nights (then 6 and 7 nights). Ours, personally, is probably 5 nights. But that has been since getting AP/PAP.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3352570 new poll made

 

[bwang123]

I get that you are all mad, but realistically the discount only saves you $150. And yes I get that with a family of 4 that is $600, but is that really going to make you travel less or go to universal more, where you are going to spend $100+ a day per person on tickets alone? If you are like me, you are already spending thousands each year on Disney travel: air, food, dues, tickets, souvenirs. If this rumor is true, it will suck, but I doubt it change anyone's travel plans. Disney knows this. The real problem is not the money, it's that the discount makes us feel good, feel important. After all we are Disney's biggest fans.

It will change ours. We are already going May & Oct no matter if the AP discount exists. If it does, we are buying APs during our May trip and go three times.

Tickets from undercover tourist:
May
$366.05 x 2 (5 day adult park hopper) = $732.10

Oct
$366.05 x 2 (5 day adult park hopper) = $732.10
$345.00 x 2 (5 day child park hopper) = $690
Total $1422.1

Total from Undercover tourist: $2154.2
DVC APs for that time period = $2066.12 (w/ tax) (only $1723.06 if we only buy adult AP w UT 5 day park hopper for children)

Now, if we want to go again in March 2016, we would have to buy:
$366.05 x 2 (5 day adult park hopper) = $732.10
$345.00 x 2 (5 day child park hopper) = $690
Total $1422.1

So, the discount would save us about $1000 through that time period. Instead we will only go twice in the year.

 

[robinb]

I have read most of this thread and I can't wrap my head around the fact that so many people claim to have purchased DVC for the ticket discount. That is extremely poor financial planning. I really have my doubts as to the veracity of those statements but it is more of something to complain about so you have something to whine about. Sell your points if that is what you want but don't hide behind the lloss of the discount as the reason for it. an

You didn't read the thread very well then. Not ONE single person said they bought into DVC because of the AP discount. Not ONE. No head wrapping required .

 

[Missyrose]

Here's what I don't understand, no one put a gun to Disney's head a couple of years back and forced the company to increase the DVC discount on APs. Why not just go back to the $100 discount instead of taking it away entirely?

 

[MsTessP]

IF they did decide to do away with this perk...Would they give notice? Or one day do you wake up and POOF - it's gone?

Yes, it would or could be POOF - It's gone!

In all of the DVC info about perks, it is clearly stated that this perk could be changed or removed without notice. This also applies to RCI exchanges, merchandise discounts, cruising on points, etc. Remember, the only guarantee in your contract is the ability to use your points at your home resort ("based on availability").