Member Day needs some fine tuning (long)

[Regina]

When we checked into the VWL, we got a CM who was "earning his ears." I made sure to ask for the Member Day info. After some digging, the supervisor found the handout and gave it to us.

At the VWL, one of the options was advertised as being "Member Day Family Activities" from 3:00 to 4:00 at Hidden Springs Pool. With activities, games and prizes, there's fun for the whole family!"

We got to the pool around 3:30. At first, we thought we were in the wrong place until I noticed two CM's walking around the pool with a shopping bag. They had the Ultimate Disney Trivia Book with them and they'd asked random guests a question. They then gave you a "prize". If you weren't paying attention, you had no idea that anything was going on. We got a keychain. So much for "fun for the whole family."

We then head to the BCV, park our car and hustle over to the BWV for the Member Day Dedication Ceremony. (We parked at BCV because we had an Illuminations cruise that evening.) It was killer hot that day.

We got our lanyards, pin and met some DISers which was a lot of fun. They had "Deevy See" oversee the celebration. She seems to be a transplant from the street performers at MGM. It's cute, but the heat made us just want to get the heck out of there.

We head to BCV for the Barbecue. Much to our surprise, it was cancelled. Although the skies were clear, there was the forecast of storms when they needed to make the decision as to whether or not to have the BBQ. They did have drinks/sodas available for purchase, but no food.

What was annoying was finding out that we could have gotten the lanyards/pins here. We shlepped all the way over the the BWV and back in the heat for no reason.

The BCV breezeway became very crowded. They had some characters visit. DD won a DVC member visor in a trivia contest. (The question: In which attraction do you hear "NY, home of 8 million people and one parking spot") Let me know if you need a hint.

The big raffle prize was a ride that evening on the Breathless.

There are other activities going on that we opted not to attend, mainly because we needed to find someplace to eat and still meet our friends on time.

Bit of advice, don't go hungry and don't go out of your way to attend this supposed "pool party" at the VWL.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I am sorry to hear the Member Day did not go according to plan. .
I was excited to attend one of these, but my trip is after the last one. At least now I am not as disappointed.

Thanx for the report...

BTW- I am super jealous of all you folks who were able to book the Illuminations cruise.

 

[spiceycat]

I have already set arise all day Tuesday - so no I won't be too disappointed

we are only going to do the parks on 2 days - one AK in the morning/Epcot at night and MK in the morning/Epcot at night - that is all - the rest of the time we are just going to relax and enjoy the place.

I hope the member day we attend (since it will be last one that DVC is during this much for) will be better than the one you got.

hope all your other trips - are much, much better.

do you feel you wasted your time? Or would you go again?

 

[PamOKW]

Sounds like Member Day is a good idea that wasn't completely thought through. The idea of holding an event outside in the late afternoon/evening,in Orlando, in July/August brings to mind one word --- THUNDERSTORM. There should have been plans to hold it indoors (or maybe plans to hold it outdoors in the off-chance that it was a nice day).

 

[Pinnie]

We checked into OKW last Tuesday and in our friend's member packet was a few flyers on information about Member Day. We were with friends, so we blew it off. Later that night, our group had split up, some going to Drum Corp activities and some to parks. When we returned to OKW about 10:00 p.m. we noticed the red message light flashing on the phone. Since we were staying in our friend's 2 bedroom on his points for this leg of our vacation, we did not listen to the message. We did however stay up and worry what it was about since he had a crisis at home and we wanted to make sure he noted the light and took the message. Turns out it was a message from Mickey thanking us for our participation in Member Day...a rather LONG message to say the least!

pin

 

[rbuzzotta]

We enjoyed our Members Day at OKW pool. MaryAnn and Pete were the DJ's and we all showed our room keys and got raffles. I had 4 raffles and my number was called all 4 times!!! I got a DVC pin, visor, plastic mug and luggage tag...........It was a fun and relaxing day at the pool.

We headed over to BW to sign up for our lanyards and met dvcreg and her family and StephenKay. It was great meeting them in the sweltering heat!! WE then trucked over to BCV and lo and behold the BBQ was cancelled!! NOw I have DH and 2 DD's starving (me too!!). We wanted to chat wit other DIS members there but it was shortlived as we headed out to find some food!!! The lobby of the BCV was overcrowded and you could barely walk around............

We didn't head over to ATlantic Dance hall were the characters were because we wanted to go to the BBQ but it sounded like they were having fun over there.............It would have been nice when we checked in for them to tell us the BBQ was cancelled and it would have saved us time and we would have gone to ATlantc Dance..........maybe one could ask in the future....

All in all, my DD's really had a blast at OKW...........

 

[Paul in CT]

We arrived last Tuesday at 7:30 PM at BWV and learned that Member Day had been moved to Atlantic Dance due to "bad weather", the same electrical storm that delayed our plane from unloading for an hour at the airport. We did not attend because we wanted to see IllimiNations instead. I think we made the right decision.

The CM told us it would begin at 7:30 PM, but told us nothing about how to register or that we had to. My daughter stopped by Atlantic Dance later to find that the place was nearly empty. We learned yesterday, the day we left for home,
that registratrion began at 5:30 PM at tables under the stairway to the BW. Unfortunately, we were gone by that time.

 

[Disney Doll]

We were there for member day on July 29th, and I was underwhelmed by the event as well.

We were staying at OKW, and the member day event there got cancelled. We went to the BWV for the ceremony, and "Deevy See" (who also plays Chloe Cannoli at MGM) was the MC. She was amusing, we signed in, got our lanyard. They had some lady there on the village green doing lariat tricks...pretty lame. We then schlepped over to the BWV, for the barbeque, to find out it got cancelled. We were all in the Breezeway at the BCV, they did a couple of drawings(the Breathless thing and some DVC merchandise...hats etc...nothing big) then we left.

My advice is that if you'e not going to produce what you promise, then don't do it at all. When we checked in, they gave us a packet with info and 2 cards to hand out to anyone we saw inviting to learn about the DVC. They were "DVC VIP" cards. I kind of thought the whole thing was a membership drive more than a way to show appreciation. At least, I hope they appreciate us more than I saw evidence of that day!!!!

 

[KANSAS]

I was very dissapointed with members day on july 29th
it took one hour, to get from OKW to BOARDWALK
THen BARBECUE was cancelled, but people at DISNEY VACATION CLUB, MS, were telling u, that everything, was already to go
Then everyone was confused, about how to get a LANYARD.

I was also very dissapointed with MEMBERS Day at BEACH CLUB ON August 5, very disorganized. We were told, a dance was to occur at Boardwalk, at 700. We walked over to Boardwalk and the dance, was over by 700

I am probably asking to much, but they were selling soft drinks and alcohol, at captive prices at Beach Club, members day, on august 5.
I kept thinking to myself. They charge over $1,000,000 per year, for services, provides to members, at Old Key West, built into our annual dues. could'nt they have given away one can of coke, to each member, on members day.

for me, members day, both times, big time dissapointment

 

[PADVCmember@OKW]

I agree. The entire event seemed like a giant commercial for DVC.

I have always "promoted" DVC to friends and family as a "first class operation". This event, however, was second class at best.

My recommendation - don't go out of you way to attend.

 

[Laurajean1014]

We went and we had a totally different experience. We stayed at OKW and that week, many guests would go up to each other and ask if they stayed outside of WDW or what year they joined.
We were the oldest in the 11 days we were there.

That afternoon, we went from MGM to BWV and met up with the reps at DVC. When the "party" started, we went over and talked to a bunch of "members" to see if we could find a '95. At my 5th introduction, I met a '95! I was able to help lots of members because we stayed several times outside of WDW.

The party started and was centered around the kids (who would think? in WDW?) My son won lots of prizes (mostly old limited editition pins). We bought a few cokes and then listened to the VP of MGM talk about projects and upcoming programs at MGM.

After that, we had dinner at Spoodles and put all our new pins on our new lanyards.

The only down part of the day was.............we didn't win the Grand Prize.

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by PamOKW
There should have been plans to hold it indoors (or maybe plans to hold it outdoors in the off-chance that it was a nice day).

Pam
The member day they had at VB in July while we were there was also very disappointing and it was "indoors". The VB resort was sold out and they left messages on all members voicemail(ahead of time) of the time and date.

It was at 6:00 in the evening and they charged members $17 each if they wanted to attend the dessert buffet. I think there were about 15 people there and it was NOT worth the $17.

 

[Regina]

I don't consider any event a waste of time when I get to meet my fellow DISers, it just wasn't what I was expecting considering the flyer.

I don't know how they can advertise the VWL Pool party as being "activities, games and prizes, there's fun for the whole family!" when it's literally two CMs walking around with a trivia book and a shopping bag. We happened to have been there, but I would have been pretty peeved if we had made a special trip to the pool for it.

We never would have gone back over to BCV had we known that the BBQ was cancelled. We were very lucky to get into Beaches and Cream. (That's a whole other story.)

While the breezeway at BCV is lovely, it's not a lot of fun when there are a bazillion people squeezed into it.

Disney Doll, I just knew that Deevy See had an MGM connection. Thanks for confirming that. She was fun.

Again, it's a good concept. I think that they need to learn some lessons from it and make sure that it's what they promote it as being.

 

[jcanary]

We were there for two, July 15 and 22 and they were both very disappointing. Atleast we learned from the first one. We were ready for the barbeque and lo and behold it was cancelled. So we made it a pizza day. Went back to the room and ordered pizza hut pizzas. Didn't meet anyone at BCV, I did have my green ribbon on. We did not go over to the Atlantic dance hall, and maybe that was were everyone was having the fun. Oh well, they tried and unfortuantly did not learn from their mistakes on the first few weeks. It would have been nice if they did some cracker and cheese and sell wine. I probably would have bought some wine if they had cheese and crackers(for free).
Oh well, I still wouldn't trade my DVC vacations for anything.
We got to talk to a guide, and as a result my husband decided NOT to add on - that was the biggest disappointment. Oh well, next vacation.

 

[AvonWuzzer]

I feel better that we did not spend at lot of time at Member Day. My wife and I were at BWV on 7/29 . It was our first mini vacation anywhere without the kids. My DD is almost six now. Anyway, we planned Tuesday to be our only park day since it was E-ride night. We went to the start on the Village Green and picked up our lanyards but quickly headed to Epcot to tour some contries before taking the monorail to Magic Kingdom. Mission Space was open and we got on in less than 20 minutes! I would have been pretty disappointed to have hung around and then find out that the BBQ was cancelled. Mission Space was so awesome that I know I made the right decision.

I agree that the event checkin seemed a little crazy. Most people did not know that you had to fill out the cards to get the lanyards or that we were supposed to invite others with the VIP tickets. I don't know what the ticket would have gotten a non-member anyway. I don't think the ticket would get them a lanyard and they weren't giving away food or anything. If I was a non-member, I might have been wary of someone giving me a ticket for a "timeshare member" party and I definately would not be drinking any Cool-aid at the event.

I will give DVC credit for trying. We are definately a hard bunch to please at times. The event was well staffed in number (if not necessarily well coordinated) and the members were friendly. The contest did give you a reason to strike up a conversation with other members. I did like my lanyard and pin. We headed home the next day, but it was cool to see others wearing the member lanyards in the parks.

I hope they don't give up on the concept, just build on it a bit. Perhaps use the convention space if necessary. Wouldn't it be cool if they had an E-Ride night at one of the parks just for DVC? It has to be so hit and miss with the July/August weather to plan outdoor events.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

WOW...Sounds like a real loser. I agree, how about a DVC only e-night. It would be an activity that WDW could make money on w/o having to provide "fun for the whole family" with a trivia contest. Sometimes I think the CMs draw straws as to who's going to host certain activities like the pool party.

Maybe they could put a DVC sticker on a can of coke. That way, maybe it could be made complimentary. Or, maybe members could get a free can if they agree to have a DVC tatoo placed on their forehead for the remainder of their stay.

 

[KANSAS]

JOHNNIEE FREDORA

one of the best posts ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[Windjammer]

I too was disappointed.

The member bar b q was cancelled on July 22 even though it did not rain or threaten rain. No advance notice was given. This was quite disappointing because we were there with a party of 18 and with that many people it is difficult to arrange for an alternate dinner at the last minute.

The activities on the boardwalk consisted of the lariat lady. The activity at Atlantic Dance was meeting Mickey and Mininie.

Steve

 

[Dancind]

We checked into BCV on Aug. 5th, and the event was in the BCV breezeway. Had to be, it was pouring rain outside. It was unpleasantly crowded. We got lanyards by filling out the cards, but noone had any idea about a pin. Though we got a free "Grumpy" pin with the lanyard. I was able to get a Member Day pin in the gift shop by paying for it. Did some of you get one with the lanyard? Not many people won prizes, since there were so many people there. I felt sorry for people just trying to get to the elevator, especially some in wheel chairs. We stayed for the Breathless drawing, and then got out of there and headed to E-night. I get enough crowding in the parks. Diana

 

[rbuzzotta]

Disney Doll, you say the events at OKW on the 29th were cancelled???? We were there for the DJ pool party from about 12:00-2:30 or so. WE had a blast!!!

As for the rest of Member Day.........it was all downhill (with the exception of meeting some very nice Dis members!!)...