EDITED TITLE: Should DVC Owners get more Perks?

[dismedvc]

Park tickets are an area where Disney/DVC could and probably should do something for members. No argument here.

Thanks @tjkraz for all your insightful comments on this thread, especially those covering what is "reasonable" to ask for from DVC. I agree completely that park tickets are an area where Disney/DVC could and probably should do something for members.
I understand the elimination of AP's applies to all guests, not just DVC, but I think it impacts DVC members more than other guests. As a cash guest you can go once a year, or not at all, rather than twice a year if there are no AP's. However, as a DVC owner who wants to use their points themselves, if you own so many points you need to use them for multiple trips each year, or you have been using your smaller number of points to take multiple trips in a 12-month period and then skip a year, the elimination of the AP dramatically increased the cost of those multiple trips. I really think that to be "fair to members" (interpret that how you wish) Disney should offer an AP that is only valid for park entry when staying on property even if regular AP's are not offered. There would not have to be a DVC discount on such a staying on property only AP and it would not have to be exclusive to DVC members.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[Sammie]

Not sure why DVC members need to think about this at all to be honest. I do agree that we as members or as potential members should know what was bought / or might be buying into at the time of purchase including all provisos and restrictions - current and what may be taken away in the future. But I don't really care, nor should I care how hard it is for Disney entities to argue amongst themselves in order to squeeze out a benefit/perk for a so-called premium product involving their self-identified "luxurious" Deluxe Resorts- especially when some of these benefits/perks were provided in the past. (and in disclosure - I am a current out of state, DVC Member without an option to obtain an AP).

You are the exception. So many are unhappy that they do not get everything they think they should from DVC in perks.

 

[Sammie]

To nobody in particular:

My closing comment on the topic of perks is this: there is no group of Disney guests who have better perks than DVC members. Not annual passholders. Not Florida residents. Not D23 members. None.

(Club 33 members pay $15k per year for their lounge access and Golden Oak homeowners pay millions as an entry fee, so I hope we can agree they are both on a different plane of existence.)

Some of the basic perks (dining, shopping, tours) overlap with Annual Passholders. And APs receive some modest perks that DVC members don't have like free magnets.

But Passholders don't have two private lounges in Florida. Passholders don't have exclusive theme park nights. Passholders don't have unique chartered cruises, exclusive treat stops at holiday parties, private fireworks viewing areas or Halloween "meet and treat" events. Nor do Florida residents or D23 members. DVC members get gift bags on cruises, free movie screenings and early booking for many events.

Some exclusive member events require an added fee...which is entirely optional. You know who can't attend Wicked Wind Down, sail on the 2nd voyage of the Disney Wish or attend a Jodi Benson book signing? Everyone who isn't a direct purchase DVC member.

Park tickets are an area where Disney/DVC could and probably should do something for members. No argument here. But beyond that, I'm really not sure what else DVC members can reasonably expect to receive. Not everyone can regularly attend Moonlight Magic, attraction previews, movie premiers and some other timed events. There's luck of the draw involved. I'd rather take my chances on hitting one of those special events every couple of years rather than DVC dumbing-down the perks program to something like free baseball caps for everyone.

Many years ago, at Disney resorts, except for Florida resident, AP and the old Magic Kingdom Club, room discounts were few and far between. A Disney spokesperson was interviewed and asked, "why is Disney so stingy with their room discounts?" She answered, " if we offer them and then stop, guests will hate us more than if we had never offered them."

 

[john7994]

You are the exception. So many are unhappy that they do not get everything they think they should from DVC in perks.

My post actually agreed with you -

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Many years ago, at Disney resorts, except for Florida resident, AP and the old Magic Kingdom Club, room discounts were few and far between. A Disney spokesperson was interviewed and asked, "why is Disney so stingy with their room discounts?" She answered, " if we offer them and then stop, guests will hate us more than if we had never offered them."

Deleted

 

[RoseGold]

That's why I specified in my other comment being local and being in FL. Most people consider local as being in and around Orlando. While Tampa is close generally you would not refer to them being local. A Tampa resident would be local to Busch Gardens though but I don't think you'd refer to an Orlando resident as being local to Tampa.

Tampa is 1 hr 15 mins from WDW, I'd def consider it local. I'd consider anyone within a few hours of driving to be local, that's a lot of people. And I think DVC could makes a lot of sense for those people. More than members who have to commit to flying.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Tampa is 1 hr 15 mins from WDW, I'd def consider it local. I'd consider anyone within a few hours of driving to be local, that's a lot of people. And I think DVC could makes a lot of sense for those people. More than members who have to commit to flying.

Then you're using a way different definition than what many consider local with respects to WDW.

 

[RoseGold]

Then you're using a way different definition than what many consider local with respects to WDW.

I live in a big enough city that 1 hr 15 mins would be in the same city. It seems weird to view Tampa as not local.

To me, local-ish people in driving range could use DVC easier than the rest of us. Completely makes sense to me.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I live in a big enough city that 1 hr 15 mins would be in the same city. It seems weird to view Tampa as not local.

To me, local-ish people in driving range could use DVC easier than the rest of us. Completely makes sense to me.

You're preaching to the choir here as I live in a metro where 40miles is where our airport is. My local amusement park is 45 mins away but it's in my metro.

Topeka is under an hour away from me (just a smidge more than it takes to get to the local amusement park) but laughable to think they are local to me or that I am local to them. I live about 3 1/2 hours from Branson. Sure I can easily pop down there for a weekend. I am not local to them. Lake of the Ozarks? Under 3 hours to get there and majority of people from my area go down there on a Friday afternoon/evening and leave Sunday. We are not local to them nor are they local to us. Jacksonville is about 2 hours from Orlando but I don't think that makes them local to it. Orlando is quite large of an area but ease of getting to a destination does not make one local to it.

 

[eandt]

Parking areas are paid by two groups…DVC owners for the DVC resorts and Disney for the WDW resorts.

All that has happened is Disney has decided to no longer pass the cost of maintaining their lots onto the guests as an additional charge but instead roll it back into the room charge, like it was before.

Comes down to the fact that parking was not charged to DVC points reservations because Disney did not have any authority to charge the fee when they were not the ones who “owned and maintained” the lots for DVC resorts.

So when Disney instituted parking fees for cash rooms, Did they lower the room rates a reciprocal amount? Asking because I have no idea so please nobody demand I sell my timeshare.

 

[kilik64]

I'd rather take my chances on hitting one of those special events every couple of years rather than DVC dumbing-down the perks program to something like free baseball caps for everyone.

Woah woah woah.

Let's not be hasty here, what kinda baseball cap are we talking about? Fitted? Snapback?

 

[kilik64]

So when Disney instituted parking fees for cash rooms, Did they lower the room rates a reciprocal amount? Asking because I have no idea so please nobody demand I sell my timeshare.

Of course they didn't. All they did with saying you're not being charged for parking is tuck it back into the room charge where you don't "see" it.

 

[DonMacGregor]

I live in a big enough city that 1 hr 15 mins would be in the same city. It seems weird to view Tampa as not local.

To me, local-ish people in driving range could use DVC easier than the rest of us. Completely makes sense to me.

I think it's all relative, and population density comes into play, rather than than purely distance. There are more people in Southern California (24 million), than the entire state of Florida (22 million). And the VAST majority of that 24 million is within a 75 to 100 mile radius of Anaheim..

 

[Sandisw]

So when Disney instituted parking fees for cash rooms, Did they lower the room rates a reciprocal amount? Asking because I have no idea so please nobody demand I sell my timeshare.

No, they did not. They simply increased the cost to the cash guests who needed to park. But, what we don’t know is if they increase over time was less than what it might have been…like with the elimination of DME…rates didnt go go down but who knows if they held off increases.

Do I think they did? No, but now that they have eliminated the additional fee, they will find a way to compensate themselves. Lol

While it wasn’t much, our DVC dues did include revenue from cash guests who booked DVC and paid that parking fee. Since Disney isn't charging anyone, that will disappear from our budgets.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

While it wasn’t much, our DVC dues did include revenue from cash guests who booked DVC and paid that parking fee. Since Disney isn't charging anyone, that will disappear from our budgets.

It will disappear as a noted item on our fees. It will not disappear.

To be honest, it doesn't have to. We are obligated to pay for M&U on the property anyway by contract.

 

[mco65]

I remember when i originally looked at a DVC purchase, park tickets not being included was a deal breaker for me. I think if parks are your main reason for visiting Disney and you have a relatively small family (4), then DVC doesn't make as much sense. If park passes were included in the DVC perks, resells would be lucrative.. perhaps thats why.

 

[Sandisw]

It will disappear as a noted item on our fees. It will not disappear.

To be honest, it doesn't have to. We are obligated to pay for M&U on the property anyway by contract.

I was talking about the revenue we got for those parking,,,not charges we pay for maintaining the lot.

With no more parking charges to cash guests, we won’t get that money any longer. It’s why I said it would not be much. For example, it was budgeted as only $35k for VGF so .00083per point of income that wont be there anymore.

 

[Wakey]

Selfish cash guests complaining on forums. Now when us DVC owners advertise our points on Facebook etc, we can’t highlight the free parking benefit. May hit our bottom lines. I hate entitled cash guests. Never thought about us did they? And now I read I’m also losing .000083 per point!

 

[flipflopmom]

Selfish cash guests complaining on forums. Now when us DVC owners advertise our points on Facebook etc, we can’t highlight the free parking benefit. May hit our bottom lines. I hate entitled cash guests. Never thought about us did they? And now I read I’m also losing .000083 per point!

I thought about that. One of the first thing on any FB post -rent points so much cheaper and you don’t have to pay to park! With the dining promo and no parking, I wondered if some of that was strategy to lure away from those renting points.

 

[J-Dog]

Selfish cash guests complaining on forums. Now when us DVC owners advertise our points on Facebook etc, we can’t highlight the free parking benefit. May hit our bottom lines. I hate entitled cash guests. Never thought about us did they? And now I read I’m also losing .000083 per point!

LOL. This thread seems to have now come full-circle back to the change to free resort parking...