How much is the lack of AP sales affecting DVC?

[RivShore]

Any poll here is gonna be greatly skewed.

Agreed but it can't be worse than all our one-off anecdotes in this thread or can it....

 

[kilik64]

Agreed but it can't be worse than all our one-off anecdotes in this thread or can it....

Ha no worse but probably no better either

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Agreed but it can't be worse than all our one-off anecdotes in this thread or can it....

We should do a one-off anecdotes polls, too.....!!

 

[tidefan]

We should do a one-off anecdotes polls, too.....!!

My anecdote is better than your anecdote!

(Note: sarcasm intended for humor )

 

[RivShore]

Ha no worse but probably no better either

Which way do you think it would skew - what ever way makes Disney look worse?

 

[RivShore]

My anecdote is better than your anecdote!

(Note: sarcasm intended for humor )

And that about describes the entirety of the internet!!!

 

[Sandisw]

Southwest Airlines was a game changer on that for us...

Hence the "personal anecdote" comment in my post.

Not sure what your issue is but almost every DVC owner we knew personally had APs. Yes, that is a small sample size, and more importantly, it is probably a regional thing. But your blanket assertion that not many DVC members carried APs is a large jump to make, I think.

We are the opposite..most DVC owners we know do not have them and never did. I think the majority of DVC owners don’t have them and so in the scheme it’s not a big impact.

However, for those that want them and can’t get it’s a real game changer.

 

[tidefan]

We are the opposite..most DVC owners we know do not have them and never did. I think the majority of DVC owners don’t have them and so in the scheme it’s not a big impact.

However, for those that want them and can’t get it’s a real game changer.

@Sandisw just a question if I may ask. Are you easily drivable to WDW?

 

[Sandisw]

@Sandisw just a question if I may ask. Are you easily drivable to WDW?

No, NY. We have APs and had them before DVC because we did our annual trip 51 weeks apart. But our friends bought only for their yearly trip and have stayed on that travel plan since.

 

[tjkraz]

So let me reset the discussion. Most of you seem to be taking the tack of how this affects DVC sales. That wasn't exactly what I was going after, I was wanting to see how it affects DVC, as in how does it affect the membership and usage patterns (I may not have made this very clear in the original post...)

Honestly I can think of two things which affected me far more personally: the DVC point reallocations starting in 2010 and the loss of non-expiring tickets. Both were bigger shocks to our budget at the time. We've always been able to find a compromise that fit our budget, and left us feeling that it was still money well spent. If we have to start taking 2 week trips--instead of multiple shorter trips--to get value from a 10-day MYW, maybe we'll do that. If VDH rooms are reasonable to book at 7 months as I expect, maybe we'll spend more time alternating between WDW and DL.

Ironically, my wife and I both have APs right now that we've renewed once or twice. Unquestionably the longest stretch over which we've ever had Annual Passes.

We often travel with our kids or other friends/family who do not have APs, so it limits our true access. This summer our plan is for an 8-day visit buy only buying 4-day tickets for those accompanying us.

If it wasn't for this AP shutdown, we probably would not have renewed last time. This year we went out of our way to maximize the value from the APs but next year we're mostly considering non-WDW trips. Not sure what I'll do about the APs in '24. Probably time to just let them go.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

The non-expiring ticket point is an excellent one. If they still offered the non-expiring tickets, the pain of not getting APs might be eased a bit for some. That change impacted us more than APs, when it happened. I guess in reality, it's when we started considering APs.....

 

[tidefan]

No, NY. We have APs and had them before DVC because we did our annual trip 51 weeks apart. But our friends bought only for their yearly trip and have stayed on that travel plan since.

Yes, I am quickly coming to the realization that this may be a regional, geographic issue. Having to fly from NY or HI or MN is much different than someone who lives in say, Valdosta, GA who could leave work and be at WDW in 3 hours. They could much more easily take many long weekend trips. I think a number of us in the Southeast got a little too used to that…

 

[kilik64]

Which way do you think it would skew - what ever way makes Disney look worse?

Naw, would skew to DVC without APs is ludicrous.

I like Disney but people around here are nuts about it.

 

[Rochester Disney Fan]

I would have an AP if it was offered. I would stagger my trips and would buy a pass every 3 years . When I started buying points in 2008 who would have thought that a theme park would stop selling their pass. I like to visit the parks just a couple hours a day and then hit the pool, so the pass helped validate the way we vacationed. We would sneak in a long weekend trip every couple of years even though we had to fly because we had the points and already had the AP. If not many DVC members had them than why not offer them to DVC members. I had to rent some points recently because I couldn't find an economical way to use them all. I'm going to give it some more time ( a couple years) to see which direction WDW goes. I want to get some Poly 2 points when they become available with all the traditional room types but my wife says we have too many points now because she doesn't want to spend the extra money on tickets and isn't going to go without being able to go the parks a few hours each day.

 

[Anal Annie]

We've always held AP's (purchasing every other trip or so as we tried to maximize our usage). We had just let them lapse in the fall prior to Covid. We made a couple of short trips during Covid where we had to buy length of stay tix and we had pretty much decided that our 2-3 trips per year would be no more until we were able to buy new AP's again - which happened during our trip for the 50th. Had we not been able to buy them at that time we would seriously have considered that we might need to downsize our total points. We had banked points during Covid from taking shorter trips that we're still using this year. Now we're fearful to let the AP's go and feel obliged to keep renewing and planning multiple trips per year. It's definitely frustrating. But without AP's we would also definitely feel the need to scale back on the number of trips we take. There's not enough off-site DVC resorts to plan to go to and planning thru II is too hard (tried - couldn't plan what we wanted). We ARE going to Aulani in about a month - it's a great resort but it's too expensive for us to plan to go more than once a decade. AP's definitely make it easier to go multiple times per year. We bought in planning to go for at least 2 weeks per year. The magic isn't quite as sparkley as it once was so who knows. We may have to re-evaluate again in another year or so. The last couple of years of mgmt. has definitely convinced us that we don't need MORE points though.

 

[BroganMc]

Well I can tell you my family is really been hurt by the lack of AP sales. Three of us have APs. We bought them when they briefly renewed sales in 2021 and have been renewing them ever since. Several other members are itching to get one themselves. We've been watching the rumors and looking for any signs that an AP will go back on sale again. And I've got a list of people I'm told to buy for.

I visit Disney three times a year. Spring, Fall and the holidays. The lack of APs means that several members of my family just don't visit the parks as often. They will shorten their stays or do other things. And they complain a lot. I see absolutely no reason to buy any more DVC on resale or direct. And I don't recommend it to people either. It's just not a good deal anymore.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I'm in Camp Not a Huge Factor. Non-Floridian APs haven't been sold for about a year and a half. The DVC sales dip is much more recent, and I think more easily explained by the macroeconomic environment.

The delay sales dip is because people were holding out for APs to come back. Apparently even Dvc sales guides were telling people they should come back. I’m not sure if they have stopped that.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

APs are huge for us and we will not go back until we get them. Ironically for Disney we were not heavy park users but liked the freedom of going for two hours and walking out. Disney did not lose money on us with the AP. DH has never been a rope drop guy and only really started enjoying Disney once we got APs. It’s not completely about the money for us. It’s about the waste and freedom. At this point we won’t fully use single day tickets and we don’t like the feeling of having to change our vacation style to fit into the “single day ticket life.”

Dvc sales will never recover until they bring back the AP because at least half of their sales were existing Dvc customers adding on and people just won’t do that if they can’t buy APs.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

But isn't the most common adage "don't buy DVC for the perks because they always change"? I get that the entire experience seems degraded for the "old timers" who saw amazing perks. But I'm not too sure if it's impacting current families looking to buy DVC?

I hope this is true. I want there to be buyers for our remaining contracts should we sell.

 

[mistysue]

The delay sales dip is because people were holding out for APs to come back. Apparently even Dvc sales guides were telling people they should come back. I’m not sure if they have stopped that.

Glad someone else is saying this- up until last Fall we kept hearing "they will come back in the Fall, like last year" - then "maybe start of the year?" then "late January...?" At this point it's just Disney pulling a sick joke on all of us.

Last Fall is when people stopping holding onto the expectation that they were coming back. We were saving up points expecting them back, then took a non-Disney trip and our next planned stay I rented out because who the heck wants to spend a week at the Poly when you can't get into the park? We've now cancelled two trips completely and rented out two more of our stays due to lack of AP. There's no excuse to buy more points for this, and we are absolutely people who would be picking up a 4th contract right now if we had APs- I had every intention of starting to book 2 bedrooms to be able to see my neices/nephiew experience Disney the way my (now getting older) kids did. If we're doing resort only it's nice sometimes but no longer feels like it would be the only place we go.