J.Lewis May be In Running To Be DL Prez....

[Chuck S]

And as far as the pass/park tickets there was more than one option available back then also. There was the park hopper and the park hopper plus and as far as length of stay you could simply tell them you didn't want to go to the park on certain days at the resort and they would take those days off and still give you the discount. I know because we did this several times.

Park hoppers and park hoppers plus were never discounted. Only the length of stay, and official policy was to let you drop ONE day, first or last, not both. You may have found the occasional sympathetic CM willing to drop first and last...but the discount was still only 10%. Now there were other discounts available for park hoppers, like the Magic Kingdom Club/Disney Club, but that had nothing to do with DVC.

And yes, you have every right to not like the changes. But again, just because some changes may affect individual members negatively, does not mean that it doesn't have an overall positive impact for the general membership or the program as a whole. For instance, the waitlist change may very well make it possible for a higher percentage of members to have their waitlist fulfilled. The booking window change, which I absolutely hated when it was announced, seems to also have had little negative impact and a positive overall impact on availability for the majority of members, along with freeing the phone lines somewhat.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Although Jim Lewis has made decisions that are unpopular with members, I think the bigger issue is a lack of notice of changing and a use of spin that borders on lying.

This comes from an overall lack of maturity. It takes a mature person to know that there will be negative feedback from re-aligning the points charts. Surely DVC knew that a re-alignment was likely to happen maybe one or two years in advance.

Of course the response is fierce if given the notice, BUT in the long run members become more bitter if they always have things sprung on them at the last minute, and then get the spin over it.

Be a man and show some maturity Jim!

Hear, hear!!

 

[Sammie]

Although Jim Lewis has made decisions that are unpopular with members, I think the bigger issue is a lack of notice of changing and a use of spin that borders on lying.

This comes from an overall lack of maturity. It takes a mature person to know that there will be negative feedback from re-aligning the points charts. Surely DVC knew that a re-alignment was likely to happen maybe one or two years in advance.

Of course the response is fierce if given the notice, BUT in the long run members become more bitter if they always have things sprung on them at the last minute, and then get the spin over it.

Be a man and show some maturity Jim!

Exactly.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I wonder how many people were signing on the dotted line yesterday while their Guide was telling them that "at BLT, they would be able to valet park for free at the CR".

 

[tjkraz]

Although Jim Lewis has made decisions that are unpopular with members, I think the bigger issue is a lack of notice of changing and a use of spin that borders on lying.

This comes from an overall lack of maturity. It takes a mature person to know that there will be negative feedback from re-aligning the points charts. Surely DVC knew that a re-alignment was likely to happen maybe one or two years in advance.

Of course the response is fierce if given the notice, BUT in the long run members become more bitter if they always have things sprung on them at the last minute, and then get the spin over it.

Be a man and show some maturity Jim!

Like it or not, that's the way big companies operate these days.

Disney didn't give folks a heads-up regarding an increase in parking fees or ticket prices. They don't tell us when pre-show entertainment is being scaled-back or give advance notice that Fantasmic showings are being reduced. They don't warn us about menu price changes or that tips are being removed from the DDP. The changes just...happen...and we all hear about it from Disney fan websites or the Orlando Sentinel, or we find out about it ourselves while on vacation.

Big companies don't grin and bear it--they try to bury the negative information or at least put a different spin on it. The announcement of Dick Cook leaving TWDC was made late on a Friday afternoon. That was done very much by design, to minimize media exposure since many folks had already wrapped-up their week.

When Jim Lewis eventually departs, his replacement will be expected to act in the same manner--consistent with corporate policy.

 

[Anal Annie]

why is Lewis not liked? Seems like few people have nice things to say about him.

I didn't read this whole thread to see if anyone else mentioned that now we use RCI rather than Interval International for trades. Lesser value trades. No more Marriott options. Just another one of those "member enhancements" that another poster mentioned.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I didn't read this whole thread to see if anyone else mentioned that now we use RCI rather than Interval International for trades. Lesser value trades. No more Marriott options. Just another one of those "member enhancements" that another poster mentioned.

But they announced that change about a month ahead of time. They didn't wait until Jan 1 to announce the change happened that day.

 

[Sammie]

As I expected the job went to George Kalogridis, wonder if JL speaks French?

 

[dallastxcpa]

Park hoppers and park hoppers plus were never discounted. Only the length of stay, and official policy was to let you drop ONE day, first or last, not both. You may have found the occasional sympathetic CM willing to drop first and last...but the discount was still only 10%. Now there were other discounts available for park hoppers, like the Magic Kingdom Club/Disney Club, but that had nothing to do with DVC.

And yes, you have every right to not like the changes. But again, just because some changes may affect individual members negatively, does not mean that it doesn't have an overall positive impact for the general membership or the program as a whole. For instance, the waitlist change may very well make it possible for a higher percentage of members to have their waitlist fulfilled. The booking window change, which I absolutely hated when it was announced, seems to also have had little negative impact and a positive overall impact on availability for the majority of members, along with freeing the phone lines somewhat.

Well I must have lost my mind because when I stayed in December 2004 the tickets I paid for were not called length of stay. From Deb at Allears:

Length Of Stay Passports - Allowed unlimited admission to all gated attractions for the entire length of the stay at a Disney resort. Sold based on the number of nights of your stay ranging from 1 night to 13 nights. Introduced in 1993 as the "Be Our Guest Pass". Became "Length Of Stay Pass" in 1995, "Unlimited Magic Pass" in 1999, and "Ultimate Park Hopper" in 2001. Discontinued in 2005 with the coming of Magic Your Way tickets..

And as far as what changes have been good for the overall membership how do you know which changes are better? Do you work for Disney? Where are you getting your data from? How do you know there has been little negative impact and a positive overall impact on availability for the majority of members? How do you know that the phone lines have been freed up? Or are you just like Jim Lewis and putting spin on everything to make it sound better?

 

[tjkraz]

Well I must have lost my mind because when I stayed in December 2004 the tickets I paid for were not called length of stay. From Deb at Allears:

"Length of stay" is just a generic term used for all of the different variations Allears has listed. Back in 2004 the LOS tickets were called Ultimate Park Hopper and the 10% off Chuck mentioned was the only park ticket discount available to DVC members.

And as far as what changes have been good for the overall membership how do you know which changes are better? Do you work for Disney? Where are you getting your data from? How do you know there has been little negative impact and a positive overall impact on availability for the majority of members? How do you know that the phone lines have been freed up? Or are you just like Jim Lewis and putting spin on everything to make it sound better?

Read the forums long enough (been doing it for 7-8 years) and you'll get a pretty good sense of what members value as a whole.

Before the AP discount started in 2005 you'd see a new thread almost every week asking "why don't we get a discount on Annual Passes?" Sure there are still members who acknowledge that the AP doesn't work for them and wish other options were available, but it's pretty clear those folks are in the minority. (As a side note, the 10% LOS discount was pretty crappy because the discount was off of Disney's "gate" prices. Back then you could buy virtually identical Park Hopper passes from a third party vendor and pay less.)

Before reservations were changed to 11/7 months from day of arrival, you could find 20 posts per day from people advising that members call "day-by-day" to book their trip. Even Member Services reps were advising it at times. Now it's unnecessary so calls have certainly declined.

There was a lot of uncertainty about people getting reservations under the new system. But it has been in place for 18 months now and we would be hearing a lot more from disgruntled members if people were being shut-out at the 11 month window.

Most of this is anecdotal evidence. But there is enough member discussion here from people who aren't afraid to share their experiences and impressions to draw some reasonable conclusions.

 

[Chuck S]

Well I must have lost my mind because when I stayed in December 2004 the tickets I paid for were not called length of stay. From Deb at Allears:...[/quote|

As Tim mentioned, Length of Stay, Unlimited Magic Pass and Ultimate Park Hopper were all the same tickets, just new names, and same 10% discount. Just like the resort changed from the Disney Vacation Club Resort to Old Key West Resort...same resort, new name in 1996.

You specifically mentioned Park Hopper and Park Hopper Plus...those were like the current MYW tickets with the added hopper and non-expiration options. DVC did not receive a discount on those.

The complaints from posters here on the boards about availability after the booking window change have certainly decreased, and actually so have the complaints about non-fulfilled waitlists, except from people who want to waitlist at more than two locations or room types.

 

[dallastxcpa]

As Tim mentioned, Length of Stay, Unlimited Magic Pass and Ultimate Park Hopper were all the same tickets, just new names, and same 10% discount. Just like the resort changed from the Disney Vacation Club Resort to Old Key West Resort...same resort, new name in 1996.

You specifically mentioned Park Hopper and Park Hopper Plus...those were like the current MYW tickets with the added hopper and non-expiration options. DVC did not receive a discount on those.

The complaints from posters here on the boards about availability after the booking window change have certainly decreased, and actually so have the complaints about non-fulfilled waitlists, except from people who want to waitlist at more than two locations or room types.

My point was and still is that not everyone can/will use the AP discount. I feel that it would not be detrimental to Disney at all to offer DVC member some type of discount on park passes.

So I take it you have been tracking the exact number of complaints before and after. Please share this information since you have taken so much time to collect it. Or is that just a generalization? Plus as we all know not everyone that owns DVC is on the DISboards so how do you know the exact numbers?

 

[Chuck S]

My point was and still is that not everyone can/will use the AP discount. I feel that it would not be detrimental to Disney at all to offer DVC member some type of discount on park passes.

But by the same token, for many DVCers, the 10% discount on LOS passes was of no value what so ever. It simply depended upon how many days you would spend in the parks over the course of a year. The AP discount may be of no benefit to your travel style...the valet parking perk was not a considerable benefit to mine, nor are most of the intermittent shopping/dining discounts. No one perk benefits every DVC owner, they try to give perks that fit the travel style of the majority of owners.

So I take it you have been tracking the exact number of complaints before and after. Please share this information since you have taken so much time to collect it. Or is that just a generalization? Plus as we all know not everyone that owns DVC is on the DISboards so how do you know the exact numbers?

Anyone that is on the boards regularly over a prolonged period of time can surely see overall trends without tabulating exact numbers, can't they?

For instance, do you dispute that the overall number/intensity or "resort bashing" threads has declined over the last few years? Or that overall, the hot topic of resort occupancy isn't as venomous as it was before? I know we've been closing fewer and fewer, and we do try to close them all, except for the one Occupancy thread.

Just ask any long time regular poster.

Such trends are easy to spot without producing exact post counts. You really don't to poll every DVC member in the world to see overall trends, the DIS and other Disney forums generally seem to present a good representative cross section of the DVC owners.

 

[Hunclemarco]

Exactly, I tried to make this point on the SSR/room booking categories and some seem to think I was very wrong about this.

As you said the more categories you have the harder it becomes to get a week in the same unit. Which is why I hope they never change the situation at SSR. I will would rather have the same unit the entire week over being able to book a location.

As to JL, I don't have anything against him personally I just think his focus is more on what looks good on paper, expansion and sales and less about the current membership. And I will admit that someone else could be the same way, that is why my concerns are not about him personally.

It bothers me greatly that Disney rehabs their resorts more frequently than DVC and I am not buying that the reason is to keep our dues low. I am also concerned with the condition of OKW, I don't feel they are keeping it to the standards of other DVC resorts.

But I think the thing that bothers me the most about JL's way of doing things is the constant comment that changes are membership feedback driven and yet I have never received a survey of any kind. I think when a major change is going to be made to the membership and leadership is going to "claim" it is based on membership feedback they need to actually survey the entire membership. I would gladly support changes if they were handled that way even if I was personally opposed to them. There is no reason they can't set the DVC site up to survery the membership.

However I do not feel that member feedback is the force behind these changes, but more about leadership wanting them and trying to pass them off on the membership. If truly the membership is the drivng force behind these changes, what is that being based on? Is it only those that are complaining. If so that is wrong too, as you have the complainers controlling the membership for all.

If the leadership is deciding that they feel these changes are best, then simply own up to it and quit making changes and always saying, they were based on "member feedback".

I am sure if you had surveyed the membership and asked which would you favor; improvements to the exisiting resorts or a new DVC building, I think we all know how that would have gone.

Well said ....guess i'm getting into this thread a little late.
I have only been with DVC for 2 years, so i can't make a real good informed decision on JL's performance, let alone know what he's ultimately responsible for.

I do think that it is difficult to swallow many changes with very little if no advanced notice. I agree with the poster that said immaturity was involved there.

As to some of the comments here about looking for exact figures to base other DISsers commets.... all i can say is there are a handfull of members here that have been these boards for many years. I won't give names, but we all know who they are. And most all of the time, they are spot on with all comments they have given...whether they are responding to situations both positive or negative. Will we like all that is said? Probably not. Realistic? Probably so... "Splitting hairs" has never led to mutual conversation.

We all know that Disney is all about the bottom line. Hopefully they will at some point consider that their ultimate bottom line can shrink badly if they don't start to consider current membership rather than increasing the number of resorts built....and example:

We had friends with us last year, and the first thing noticed was the "sub-par" cleaning of our room. We were at BCV and SSR.... As much as we enjoyed our stay, it was dissapointing that we hyped up DVC, and some of our friends found a lot to put it down. I agree that some "motel 6" establishments were cleaner than what we walked into. Those issues were addressed when we got there, but Housekeepping should have taken care of these issues prior to our visit. Is JL responsible for this? That's hard to say. But i imagine that as posted earilier, they need to keep high standards with the resorts they already have before venturing out and creating more. As the President of DVC, i would think that would be a priority. If they continue to outsource, make sure the companies that are outsourced are keeping up to the high standards that Disney is known for...not anything less. I'm not just referring to housekeeping, but all outsourced venues.

...just think how this can improve "Member Enhancement"...sorry had to say it!