Member Benefits

[ohanafamily]

Muushka & Deep, There is room for common ground.

To start out, I am very loyal to Disney. My whole home is done in NEO-DISNEY, and I have 400 DVC points; My wife and I have yet to bank one.

Last year a friend told me that he defected to USF-permanently. He goes to Florida once a year with 5 other family members. He said that USF treated him nicer and wanted his busness more. He also told me about the front of the line pass/room key. I was intrigued so we spent 1 night at the HR. The parks are nice, but I couldn't see how people would like to spend their entire vacation there.

So what did I do, I decided to extend my next vataion a couple of more days to take in some of their shows.

Am I still going to WDW? YES
Will I continue to go to USF? Probably, but I won't plan a trip just to go there; it still isn't WDW.
Am I a turncoat? Maybe a little, but I still pride myself on being a huge Disney Fan. IOA has some great Roller Coasters.

In addition to my AP at WDW,
I have an AP at USF ($99 it is a no brainer),
I have an AP at Six Flags (theres one 45 minutes away)
I like amusement parks as well as theme parks.

RC has a $109 Passbook room rate, and for 1-2 nights it will do for my wife and I occasionally. We also find it cheaper on the weekends than if we have to pay for a room ($ because we don't have the points left)

I will admit that the food is more expensive at US (a ;ot more, each meal was at least $50 for 2)

As far as Disney APs go, we paid (DC rate) for the super Annual passes, and have gotten our money out of them. I am so very much looking forward to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

I am one of those people who will pay what I need to. I do, however, look for discounts wherever I can.

I feel, subjectively that DVC members have shown a commitment to WDW with a minimum of $10,000.00, and should be a group that is rewarded with discounts.

They are not in the contract, so I do not expect them, but brand loyalty should be rewarded...

 

[crisi]

I'm pretty sure Disney datamines based on charges to your room - they may even cross check with your credit card - they have a pretty good idea how much DVC guests spend on site. What they won't know with this method is if you are spending the day at SeaWorld, or sitting by the pool and cooking in your room - but they really don't care, they only care that you aren't spending money at Disney.

In order for discounts to be cost effective, DVC members would need to spend more money at Disney than they currently do. For everyone who will, there are people like my husband and myself who don't take discounts into consideration when we are on vacation - we go on vacation basically budgetless. If DVC would put in a discount program - they would lose money on us, and on people like us.

I'm willing to bet that by Disney's calculations, discounts are not cost effective. And even if they are cost effective, they have to factor in the cost of lost goodwill when they pull them (which, when times get better for Disney, and they have no reason to offer discounts, they will want to).

 

[ncligs]

Deep,
I understand what you are saying......but I would have to agree with Muushka and ohanafamily. We love DVC and the accomadations they give us.We also like to go to other places also(Uninversal,IOA, San Antonio,Nags Head etc).
In fact Cedar Point (amusement park in Sandusky,Oh) puts MGM,IOA,Universal,Epcot,Magic Kingdom,etc to shame. It has more coasters(bigger,faster, higher,etc) and is 1st class in overall appearance,cleanliness,etc, and it is cheaper by a lot compared to any WDW theme park.If a person wants roller coasters it has at least 12 on property at Cedar Point, so WDW doesn't have the best coasters in the USA.....Cedar Point does,for less money also.
As people(DVC members) get older and want to have a meal at Epcot or 1 of the parks, it is a little riduculos to pay $$ just to get in, then eat at the restraunt on property and leave. We always choose to eat off-property unless we do the parks. Even though we have 500 pts with DVC, we like going to Florida and staying in DVC resorts and relaxing,visiting relatives,DD,etc.
It doesn't bother me that we don't get any discounts from DVC for admissions, but it would benifit WDW if they did.
Vacations are supposed to be for whatever each family wants it to be IMO.

 

[Mickey527]

I agree with most of the posts, I would love to see DVC members get more perks.
I took my family to WDW this past summer and bought them all AP's because we were staying 7 days and I have heard that 7 days is the break even point for visiting the parks.
Before we stayed at DVC we stayed off property for 4 days. I bought AP's for Universal for the entire family, and they were having a special 2 years for the price of 1, so I have 2 year AP's for all of them now.
My sons are older so the loved Uni. We spent 4 days at the park every day from morning to closing. And they want to go back with me when I go to FL in Dec/Jan. We ate dinner at the nicer restaraunts in Islands of Adventure, one meal alone was over $600 for 7 of us. But the meal was great and I would go there again.
When we went to WDW I had to drag my 19 year old in to the parks on the first day. We went to MGM and he did R&R and TOT a few times and some of the other rides but he left early to swim at the Yacht Club pool.
He only went into the parks one other day, to eat dinner in Le'Cellier. I wasted all that money on an AP for him. He said the pool was more enjoyable than going into the parks for the umteenth time. The rest of us did go to the parks every day but only for a few hours each time. Mostly we swam and sat in the room being lazy. So we at least got our monies worth (I think) We would not have gone to the parks each day if we hadn't spent all that money for the APs, I think the guilt of me spending the money I did made them all go with me
We did alot more cooking in the room than we have ever done and picked up some great dips and hordourves and made meals on those at the pool.
Disney lost some money on our meals but do they really care? They still have my money each month with my dues and mortgage. (is it called a mortgage?)
As I get older I think one or two days at the parks will be sufficient for me and if I continue to use my DVC it will be for more relaxing and less parks.
Honestly, let's face it, it takes 113 points to stay at Port Orleans from Sunday to Friday morning,which at the recommended $10 as point comes to $1130. I can find discounts for that same resort at $119 per night which works out to be $595. Is DVC really a bargain? Peggie

 

[ohanafamily]

Peggy,
True, but consider the difference in the rooms. Also, the $10.00 is what they say the points are worth; I think you will find that they cost you less.....

 

[mmmcq]

Like others I think the cost of the passes even with the DC or the DVC discount is steep. If the passes were less expensive we would definitely visit more often and stay longer on site. A case in point is this past summer. If the cost of the passes weren't so prohibitive we would have stayed 10 days on site instead of 5 at WDW and 5 at Vero. We ate all our meals on site this year and still didn't get to all the restaurants we wanted to. We haven't outgrown the parks yet in anyway, we just can't afford as much any more. And on our next trip we'll be paying for 5 passes instead of 4 since baby turns 3 soon.

After our trip this past August we realized we had made a mistake in not buying AP's, because we started thinking about going back sometime in the next 9 months instead of our usual every 2 year visit. We had a thought that we'd go celebrate our 8th grader's graduation this summer and instead of '04 when she's a freshman in HS because of sports, etc. But just thinking about paying twice for PH passes in one year makes me cringe. I honestly haven't yet been able to commit to making reservations because of the cost of the passes.

We've been thinking seriously of adding on points as well to increase the length of our vacations and be able to have larger accomodations (2BR vs 1BR) when we go. But the increasing cost of the passes and airfare makes it harder to justify. We feel we might not be able to vacation anywhere else and we have family in CA that we like to visit at least once a year, etc.

I think Disney's being short sighted.......but they have all our spending records and probably know better than I do how much we've pumped into the WDW coffers over the past 8 years or so. So economically, it probably just doesn't make sense for them.

 

[DeeP]

mmmcq,
Did you instead of going to WDW parks go to Universal, Seaworld, parks etc? And if so, how did you feel these parks compared to Disney parks value wise??

 

[mmmcq]

We've only ever been to Sea World, none of the others. On previous trips we've spent at least one day at Sea World out of 4/5 and 10 day trips. I really can't compare SW in terms of costs since I wasn't there this year, but it's a different kind of place. We don't go there for the rides.

We had a third child in '99 so going offsite became cumbersome. On this past trip we didn't even visit WDW waterparks. We just did WDW parks and swam at SAB. We don't think our youngest can appreciate anything more at age 3.

We have amusement parks here in Massachusetts that we visit each summer, so when we go to WDW we don't feel the "need" to go elsewhere. In future years when we have more points to stay longer on site, I know we will venture offsite to Universal and other places. My teens have asked to go to USF, but we don't feel pressured to do so - YET!

 

[MACDADDY]

I haven't seen this much good discussion in a while so thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. I belong to the "we bought a time share from Disney and should be happy we have any incentives at all" side. Disney is a very large corporation whose main goal is to make their shareholders happy. They do this by making money. I read somewhere that the Beach Club is already 50% sold out and in a few months will be completely sold out. This will leave nothing to sell until the old Disney Institute is ready in a few years. So why would Disney want to give incentatives to buy when they can't build quick enough to keep up with the demand? Yes I'd like any new incentative that Disney has to offer but if I was in Eisner's shoes I'd be doing the same thing. Now If Disney wants to make more money there are 60,000 of us DVCer's that can't wait to empty our checkbooks to the mouse. They should have much more extensive DVC merchandise available to us (website, newsletter) that we could make use of when we are not at the resorts.

 

[RLevy29]

I find this discussion very interesting. When we stay at WDW we go to the parks daily. I would like to see a discount for DVC members for an AP pass especially since the DC is no longer going to be in existence. We love the Disney parks and always look forward to when they open new attractions.

 

[Chuck S]

I don't expect or feel entitled to any park discounts, but I agree wih RLevy, since DC is going away, a discount similar to DC on APs would be nice. I like the convenience of APs, even if we don't do a park everyday, we have the freedom to "pop" into a park for a nice dinner, or to catch a stage show we might not otherwise see.

 

[slc224]

As DVC members I feel we are not entitled to anything other than our first rate accommodations. On the other hand, Disney is also not entitled to anything from me other than my annual dues. Where one spends their admission dollars is up to them. However, I did not buy into a timeshare at WDW to spend the majority of my vacation somewhere else. It was not DVC that attracted me to WDW, but WDW that attracted me to DVC. More park perks would be great, but do I expect them...No.

 

[ripleysmom]

Dee, we have also done the Universal on the weekend route. Let's face it point values are very high for DVC on the weekends. I'd rather get more bang for my points by getting bigger accommodations at DVC and stay a few nights at USF where I will get FOTL. To me the hotels are at least as nice as WDW resorts and it is worth the money for FOTL.

 

[ohanafamily]

To me the hotels are at least as nice as WDW resorts

I find the DVC accomodations much better, but this will be the second trip we "Did The Weekend Thing"

 

[jimmytammy]

As a DVCer I would love to have some perks especially park pass discounts. As a Disney shareholder and a business owner I can see there point. Im going to miss the DC and its perks, and I definitely dont need or want another credit card so thats out the window.

My opinion is that Dis execs who make these decisions to take away perks to ANYONE has forgotten the magic WDW creates. Times are tough and the bottom line is what keeps the doors open or shut. Hopefully Dis will see in time that just like taking EE away just to bring it back was a mistake taking away perks or not giving any will affect the mass market.

With that in mind I hope this is just a temporary fix and not long term.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

I think part of the problem with Disney is their business decisions (discounts etc.) rely on the "one timer parents" who go to WDW for their once in a lifetime $10,000+ magical guilt trip.

So why care about the return customers, the Dinsneyholics will come and spend $$$ anyway... especially those leming DVCers??

Disney buracracy is slow to respond to changing vacationing trends, especially among DVC members. Make sure you let them know your vacation spending habits......

......If you exclusively visit the WDW parks while at DVC, let the Disney Corp. (MS and the theme park division) know how much you enjoy your DVC accomodations, and how much you DON'T want any pass discounts because you only purchased a real estate interest and don't feel discounts are necessary.

......If you visit offsite dining and entertainment, let the Disney Corp. (MS and the theme park division) know how much you enjoy your DVC accomodations, and how much money you spent offsite, because the current DVC park pass discount prohibits you visiting WDW parks as much as you'd like to.

 

[colleen costello]

We all knew when we bought DVC that there were no ticket discounts... BUT IT SURE WOULD BE NICE! One of the earlier posts here said that the point of Florida discounts was to basically attract locals who otherwise wouldn't visit the parks. Well, if we are hanging around at OKW for 10 nights and not going to the parks daily due to high ticket prices, aren't we those very locals?

We spend between 8 and 15 nights yearly at WDW. Not enough to make an AP the obvious choice, especially now that AP rules are trickier (renewals at anniversary date, not beginning with first use). If AP's were discounted, we would definitely get them. I would LOVE to go to the parks for a bit each day. Mom and I have been wanting to do one of the Magic Kingdom tours. But we will probably only enter the MK once during our next trip and don't want to spend the admission on top of the tour cost and miss our only MK day with family. I am just saying that in the case of my family, making the AP more cost effective would definitely bring us into the parks more regularly, and definitely see us spending more Disney dollars on meals and extras.

We are members of the Indianapolis Zoo. Every year the membership seems to become a better deal. As ticket prices increase, zoo membership prices hold steady. We get a nice newsletter and discounts on food and gifts. I know I am supporting the zoo and the membership is a no-brainer -- if you visit more than once yearly, it's a good deal. So we visit the zoo a lot, and we always spend money. We eat lunch, ride the rides and buy goodies. I bring them cash in a lot more ways than the cost of my ticket price. In a bad economy, the zoo has found a way to keep me coming and keep me spending dollars that add up. Wish Disney would do the same! Our visits will involve a lot of "hanging around at the villa" until AP's are more affordable.

 

[mmmcq]

Here's a scoop that just came in my "All Ears" newsletter from Deb Wilis.

"Buy one, get the second half-price! That's the deal being offered
to Canadians on Walt Disney World 7-Day Park Hopper PLUS passes starting today! The specially priced passes will be sold from now until April 19, 2003, and will be valid from November 15, 2002, through May 15, 2003. Additional passes are 25 percent off.

This deal is available ONLY at Disney Stores in Canada. A valid
Canadian ID is required for both pass purchase and use. "

Travel from Canada must be way off......

Guess if a lot of us "US out-of-staters" stopped going then they'd offer us perks too!

 

[DeeP]

However, I did not buy into a timeshare at WDW to spend the majority of my vacation somewhere else. It was not DVC that attracted me to WDW, but WDW that attracted me to DVC. More park perks would be great, but do I expect them...No.

My feelings excatly! I think most DVC members would have to agree the statement" "It was not DVC that attracted me to WDW, but WDW that attacted me to DCV." is true in the vast majority of the cases. So if it was WDW that attracted you to DVC why now do you wish to go elsewhere just because the discounts are not what you feel they should be when admission discounts were never intended to be part of the DVC membership on a full time, long standing basis to begin with. I honestly feel I have received and continue to receive excatly and actually more than what I was supposed to get with my DVC membership. Would more discounts be good, yes, but so would better discounts on airfare, car rentals, etc. Everyone likes to get a bargain, it is human nature. However I know from my traveling patterns with the amount of days I get from an AP, it is one of the best travel bargains I get from any vacation destination. I do agree with those that have posted about the very high weekend points and this is one of the reasons they go elsewhere. I also many times avoid the high weekend DVC points but I guess I look at everything with Mickey colored glasses because though I will often check out of a DVC resort for Fri & Sat nights to avoid the high pts, I still stay on WDW property and we enjoy this time to try out different Disney resorts, so though not at a DVC resort we are still very much in the house of the mouse! But that is excatly where I want to be and why I purchased a Disney timeshare and not another Orlando area timeshare.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Travel from Canada must be way off......

Nope, just WAY expensive for our Canadian friends. This disount levels the playing field a little.