Membership Magic Beyond

[Ruttangel]

But since this is available for purchase to all and it’s a choice to buy or not, I think it does keep all DVC Y owners in the same level.
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It’s not though, 10% of DVC owners are blocked out purely for not living in US

 

[Sandisw]

It’s not though, 10% of DVC owners are blocked out purely for not living in US

You are right. For those owners, it is a different situation. I should have included that.

But I am hoping that the exclusion will change and that it was more a matter of not having everything in place, especially based on the info shared yesterday.

 

[Aussie RJ]

You are right. For those owners, it is a different situation. I should have included that.

But I am hoping that the exclusion will change and that it was more a matter of not having everything in place, especially based on the info shared yesterday.

I would assume it’s a regional tax issue? Just like the lightening lane issue. If DVC can’t allow internationals to at least buy when we visit, it should be given to all direct international accounts at no expense…. But I guess my 1100 points aren’t enough.

 

[New Mouse]

You are right. For those owners, it is a different situation. I should have included that.

But I am hoping that the exclusion will change and that it was more a matter of not having everything in place, especially based on the info shared yesterday.

Unfortunately aside from the lost revenue opportunity Disney doesn't really care.

 

[SL6827]

It’s not though, 10% of DVC owners are blocked out purely for not living in US

I think this is only temporary.

 

[Sandisw]

Unfortunately aside from the lost revenue opportunity Disney doesn't really care.

It appears that they figured out how to allow international guests to purchase LL passes now so my guess is it will change for this too.

My guess is that they simply wanted to roll this out sooner than later and not wait until they got all they needed to allow international guests to purchase, but it will happen unless their are laws from other countries that prevent it.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

I would assume it’s a regional tax issue? Just like the lightening lane issue. If DVC can’t allow internationals to at least buy when we visit, it should be given to all direct international accounts at no expense…. But I guess my 1100 points aren’t enough.

I believe international guests can book LL in advance now so maybe these particular work arounds take a bit longer. I also think this is temporary and international members will eventually be able to buy this if they so wish. If not, I’m with you, international guests should just be given it at no additional charge. That’ll certainly put a fire under their butts to find the way to get you guys to pay in, too lol

https://twitter.com/x/status/1848858744886857857

 

[J-Dog]

All we had was lounge access with a regular waitlist and we still have lounge access with a regular waitlist.

Maybe access will still be the same, but TIME to that access will potentially be a lot worse, if those without priority access have to wait for those who do have it. And for most of us, time is valuable.

 

[Sandisw]

Maybe access will still be the same, but TIME to that access will potentially be a lot worse, if those without priority access have to wait for those who do have it. And for most of us, time is valuable.

That is true but that is different than saying DVC has added a tier to accessing benefits.

When the lounge first opened, there was never a wait…and there are plenty of times before it closed for refurb, that there were not waits.

But, now there are times it’s busy. Since DVC will have addded two more lounges in 2025, there are more options.

And, it’s not priority access, it’s being put on a prioroty waitlist if it exists. Now it is limited to a once per day benefit so if you use it at MK, you can’t use it at Epcot later in the day.

One thing DVC could do that might help once the MK one opens, is limit owners to visiting one lounge per day. similar to how they limit owners to one Moonlight Magic at each park per year.

Having said that, maybe this is something that DVC believes will be well received or they have data that is will be?

As you say, time is valuable to owners and the truth is, some are willing to pay extra..even though I have my doubts anyone will buy this simply to be put to the top of a waitlist, when none of the other benefits are valuable to them.

I can’t fault any DVC owner who is willing to pay for something that is importsnt to them, even if it means I have to deal with something differently when it’s not important enough to me to pay for it.

People do seem to like the priority given to those with resort reservations for Moonlight Magic so maybe they figured this would be the same?

But none of us really know why it was added.

 

[Cyberc1978]

I would assume it’s a regional tax issue? Just like the lightening lane issue. If DVC can’t allow internationals to at least buy when we visit, it should be given to all direct international accounts at no expense…. But I guess my 1100 points aren’t enough.

it can't be a tax issue. We can buy: OTUP, Annual passes, annual dues, cruises etc - if it was a tax issue we couldn't do those things either.

I could accept that U.S folks could do it online and I had to call, but as it stands we are excluded from the DVC-BY club. As mentioned if DVC dont fix this they are effectively saying we dont want international people to buy direct as we can't sell them the additional perks.

 

[Cyberc1978]

It appears that they figured out how to allow international guests to purchase LL passes now so my guess is it will change for this too.

My guess is that they simply wanted to roll this out sooner than later and not wait until they got all they needed to allow international guests to purchase, but it will happen unless their are laws from other countries that prevent it.

Can international members buy IIL now? - also without jumping through hoops with a VPN etc?

 

[Aussie RJ]

Can international members buy IIL now? - also without jumping through hoops with a VPN etc?

Yes. It looks like it quietly changed over the past few days. It looks like they simply removed geolocation blocking. I wonder if it’s an error? Either way, work arounds were pretty simple.

 

[PalmettoPath]

Yes. It looks like it quietly changed over the past few days. It looks like they simply removed geolocation blocking. I wonder if it’s an error? Either way, work arounds were pretty simple.

I wrote a longer post yesterday about my discussion with a CM who called me after my inquiry about this as a Canadian DVC-Y and the CM specifically mentioned a point along the lines of "similar to what happened with LL." So I was left with the impression that this restriction may just go away quietly. Her comment was "keep watching." No details were shared, but the intent, I believe, was to reassure me that it was not intended to permanently exclude Canadian/Int'l members.

 

[Ruttangel]

I wrote a longer post yesterday about my discussion with a CM who called me after my inquiry about this as a Canadian DVC-Y and the CM specifically mentioned a point along the lines of "similar to what happened with LL." So I was left with the impression that this restriction may just go away quietly. Her comment was "keep watching." No details were shared, but the intent, I believe, was to reassure me that it was not intended to permanently exclude Canadian/Int'l members.

The difference here is that they went out of their way to create T&C’s documenting the eligibility for US only, a completely deliberate decision.

I can’t see that being reversed any time soon unless enough complaints get through

 

[PalmettoPath]

The difference here is that they went out of their way to create T&C’s documenting the eligibility for US only, a completely deliberate decision.

I can’t see that being reversed any time soon unless enough complaints get through

That is not what I was told (and I even said we'd miss a year...which she implied likely not), but we shall see.

 

[Sandisw]

The difference here is that they went out of their way to create T&C’s documenting the eligibility for US only, a completely deliberate decision.

I can’t see that being reversed any time soon unless enough complaints get through

I still have to wonder if there is something in the background that wasn’t ready to go in order to allow non US citizens to access and so released it anyway with those T and C.

If the LL was changed, then I have high confidence this will be too.

 

[PalmettoPath]

I still have to wonder if there is something in the background that wasn’t ready to go in order to allow non US citizens to access and so released it anyway with those T and C.

If the LL was changed, then I have high confidence this will be too.

That is exactly what she was getting at, I believe, in so many words. That is why, I believe, she kept saying keep watching (I took this to mean that the restriction may just disappear from the T&C, and before January 12.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Not to go off on a tangent, but for the international situation…
I seem to recall a time or two when Disney (not specifically DVC) had special promotions for non US citizens. If you were a resident of the US, you were excluded. It was blamed on the exchange rate at the time, but regardless… the deal wasn’t available to US citizens because Disney chose not to.

I do not recall the outcry.

 

[Sandisw]

Not to go off on a tangent, but for the international situation…
I seem to recall a time or two when Disney (not specifically DVC) had special promotions for non US citizens. If you were a resident of the US, you were excluded. It was blamed on the exchange rate at the time, but regardless… the deal wasn’t available to US citizens because Disney chose not to.

I do not recall the outcry.

That exists now with UK residents getting packages and ticket deals not available to US residents.

 

[PalmettoPath]

Not to go off on a tangent, but for the international situation…
I seem to recall a time or two when Disney (not specifically DVC) had special promotions for non US citizens. If you were a resident of the US, you were excluded. It was blamed on the exchange rate at the time, but regardless… the deal wasn’t available to US citizens because Disney chose not to.

I do not recall the outcry.

Those cases go both ways (deals for each region) and one step further even with Florida residents.

The main difference for me in those cases is that no one is a paying member (those are sales promotions targeting the general public in regions) -- no one spent tens of thousands of dollars to buy in to a real estate interest, let alone paying more to buy direct from Disney for incentive benefits when doing so (DVC-Y members).

In any event, it can be argued all day (as everything is on these boards, lol) so we will see how it all plays out. My belief is that it will level out based on what I heard when they called me to discuss it. Personally, I see DVC membership as very different than sales promos to the general public. But one never knows what twists and turns will come our way...