New DVC General Manager

[ABE4DISNEY]

Has Pete said anything about this change?

Not that I know of....I am missing hearing from him. There has not been a new DVC Show video posted lately. I would love to hear his thoughts on this and the new Genie+ system.

 

[Sammie]

The website issues alone are absolutely inexcusable and an embarrassment for DVC/Terri in this day and age. It's quite obvious she never gave a damn. Any leader worth their salt will push to get this sinking ship back on track.

What website issues do you have, because honestly I don't have any more than I have with the Disney main page. I don't think that is a DVC specific issue.

 

[Sammie]

Yeah I agree, I wasn't trying to say if a SVP said I want this fixed come back in 1 week for an IT issue it would suddenly be magically fixed. I'm in IT, so I definitely understand the nuances of issues that Disney is facing (although I can't defend how long it takes them to fix the gremlins, they just took a multiple day outage to upgrade the systems and many of the bugs still remain). It might be a different story if you're an e-commerce company and your website is down ... suddenly your primary source of revenue is gone ... the message is probably a lot different there and not just driven by customer complaints

I was more thinking if the SVP got a lot of complaints from customers about lets say the point allocation for the year - they should be empowered to say - figure out how to fix this and come back to me. Which I assume is something that actually occurred with the 2021 point charts and in years prior as well (thank goodness for the smart people who run all of those spreadsheets each year).

There are more than 250,000 DVC members and honestly I think most don't complain like those on this forum. And honestly many on this forum complain about things that should be directed to other divisions of WDW rather than DVC. Like parks, tickets, IT, etc. To me that is more on them than DVC. At least find out what you really own as it is in everyone's POS. And yes I did read mine.

 

[Liquidice]

There are more than 250,000 DVC members and honestly I think most don't complain like those on this forum. And honestly many on this forum complain about things that should be directed to other divisions of WDW rather than DVC. Like parks, tickets, IT, etc. To me that is more on them than DVC. At least find out what you really own as it is in everyone's POS. And yes I did read mine.

You're right, most probably don't complain - although with Disney pricing people out and catering more to people who are well off and trying to make Disney a "luxury" experience, I wonder if complaints will increase.

If you ever look at cars for example, Lexus gets a lot more complaints per vehicle sale than the equivalent Toyota, and thats because Lexus owners tend to be more picky about - lets say a rattling sound in their dashboard.

When you pay more, you expect more -- and while some of the issues are not directly related to DVC, I still think most see Disney as 1 company and they don't necessarily separate DVC from the rest of the company. The contract only guarantees you a room, but DVC guides often promise you much more.

We'll see - I'm definitely interested to see what happens over the next few years and how all of the changes implemented by Disney as a whole are received.

 

[Sammie]

You're right, most probably don't complain - although with Disney pricing people out and catering more to people who are well off and trying to make Disney a "luxury" experience, I wonder if complaints will increase.

If you ever look at cars for example, Lexus gets a lot more complaints per vehicle sale than the equivalent Toyota, and thats because Lexus owners tend to be more picky about - lets say a rattling sound in their dashboard.

From a Toyota owner, I would say that was due to the fact the Toyota owner will go, Gee that's my extra set of keys making that noise and the Lexus owner will just complain about something that is not the car's fault. LOL>

When you pay more, you expect more -- and while some of the issues are not directly related to DVC, I still think most see Disney as 1 company and they don't necessarily separate DVC from the rest of the company. The contract only guarantees you a room, but DVC guides often promise you much more.

Again buyers need to educate themselves as to what is really owned, therefore they will be less upset. We got little to no perks when we bought so we are happy with anything.

We'll see - I'm definitely interested to see what happens over the next few years and how all of the changes implemented by Disney as a whole are received.

 

[Bruggok]

As a former IT guy at a stock brokerage, I'll say that IT is a cost/expense. If a project or system direct generate profit (e.g. new trading functionality = more trade commissions), then oh yes we need this to go live YESTERDAY! Mgt will push hard even though it's not ready and risk customers getting angry if things crash and burn. On the other hand, systems that don't generate profit (e.g. DVC member website) gets put on back burner repeatedly. DVC has no financial incentive to make a nicer website for owners to use, except if it lowers load on call center so they can reduce headcount there. When viewed through this lens, what Disney does make more sense to me.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I'm sure he'll be implementing the complete Fuqua experience for members

Depending on how that is pronounced, some might say we've been getting that complete experience for a while now.

 

[dsanner106]

I don't know that it will matter as Terri was promoted and he will report to her. She was rewarded for successfully removing benefits, saving money and preventing a riot and unfortunately, that seems to be the path to promotion now. Will the new guy realize just how tenuous the situation is with long time owners? Will he even take that outlook that we ARE owners and not just customers? I know what I would do if I were in his shoes and start off with the return of some of our losses and try to come up with something new but that takes a customer service orientation in approach. They have chosen a finance guy and although there are certainly exceptions to the rule, finance execs generally stick to what they know. Creating a board of owners comprised of a cross-section of members would be a good start, someone he and the company could use to gauge how members will view changes and issue statements to the membership explaining them would be nice. I am perfectly willing to wait and see how he does things before rendering judgement, but admit I am a bit of a skeptic going in.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

No major decision is ever just one person's. Not even Iger has that ability. Everyone answers to someone else.

Absolutely. But if you let a bad decision stand it is on you. There are many times I’ve been steamrolled but I made my views known that I refuse to promote____ agenda or ____ project. I will execute as follows but I make sure that I will not be the face of the decision. As a senior executive, if you don’t push back, you are responsible. She did not push back. She was the face of the decision. I have received person email responses from her concerning serious issues that were shockingly insincere. She didn’t have a clue about how to run dvc. Telling people you care all the time doesn’t make it true. In fact, it is just the opposite. When you have to say you care all the time, it is because your actions show you don’t. She tried to cover up bad decisions and policies all the time but saying how much she “cares about the customer experience.”

 

[buffy71]

I can't imagine that the big increase in APs, loss of Magical Express, park reservations, lack of real park hopping, and loss of magic hours are going to help DVC sales.

I could have given someone so many reasons to purchase DVC, now I really can't... So if a devout DVC and Disney lover is questioning the value of a Disney vacation, that can't be good for sales.

 

[buffy71]

Disney does market DVC as a premium experience though, the hotels are considered "Deluxe Villas", DVC itself it falls under Disney Signature Experiences and people are dropping thousands of dollars up front for DVC, so while over the course of 50 years of ownership or however long you own it does come out cheaper - I don't tend to think of it as a "value" experience.

What do you think a realistic expectation of DVC should be?

Should it be like resale members, just get the contractually points towards the room - and members should be happy with just that and nothing more? Membership Extras are also marketed right on the DVC website. I know what those extras are is not guaranteed, but I would expect to get something for buying direct.

I think my biggest gripe is with Disney and not DVC... the perks like magical express, real park hopping and magical hours vanishing are hard to swallow. Plus added expense for the new FPS and Genie. Of course I would love a bigger discount on APs, because I am having a difficult time finding the value of purchasing AP or even park tickets when my vacation at Disney will not be close to the vacations I have been able to previously have... For those that are new, they won't know the difference... but for me being able to walk into Epcot for breakfast, then go off to another park for the day, they off to another for dinner - those days are gone. Just one example. Even being able to arrive at airport and not have to stress about transportation or anything else for the rest of my stay... gone...

 

[RoseGold]

What website issues do you have, because honestly I don't have any more than I have with the Disney main page. I don't think that is a DVC specific issue.

Just search these forums for dwarves. the DVC booking website is a nightmare with many known issues. I'm at over many hours on the phone in the last couple months trying to deal with this incompetent website, and I STILL missed several bookings.

Even if they don't care about the guest experience, they should at least care about that phone load.

 

[Liquidice]

I think my biggest gripe is with Disney and not DVC... the perks like magical express, real park hopping and magical hours vanishing are hard to swallow. Plus added expense for the new FPS and Genie. Of course I would love a bigger discount on APs, because I am having a difficult time finding the value of purchasing AP or even park tickets when my vacation at Disney will not be close to the vacations I have been able to previously have... For those that are new, they won't know the difference... but for me being able to walk into Epcot for breakfast, then go off to another park for the day, they off to another for dinner - those days are gone. Just one example. Even being able to arrive at airport and not have to stress about transportation or anything else for the rest of my stay... gone...

I agree, there have just been so many negatives recently and virtually no positives. It is mostly on the Disney side, with higher prices and cancelling perks.

But some of it impacts DVC members directly. It may be DVD and not DVCM's fault - but still impacts members directly. For example - DVC blue cards lost the discounted Platinum Pass pricing, resulting in a 44% increase in price to buy the Incredi-Pass vs. Platinum pass and the Sorcerer Pass renewal is 25% higher than the Gold Pass renewal. I realize the Platinum Pass is mostly due to the loss of a DVC and Florida Resident specific price for Platinum, but if you look at the 25% increase for the Gold/Sorcerer Pass, that is significantly higher than the price increase on tickets from 2019 to 2022 and significantly higher than the normal Platinum to Incredi-Pass price (~8% increase) and the Weekday Select to Pixie Dust Pass price increase (again around an 8% increase).

Whoever makes the decision, it would have been nice to see a DVC specific price for Incredi-Pass and Sorcerer Pass.

I know some folks feel we should be happy to get any perks at all - but just talking about what changes have been made that have directly impacted DVC members. The financial impact for me to get a similar experience to what we had in 2019 is a 70% increase in out of pocket expenses or about $1800 - that isn't all from the APs, but it sure would be nice if DVC was able to negotiate a better price for us.

In the past they've been able to negotiate DVC limited time special AP pricing, would be cool if they were able to do that again or something extra for DVC Members like free G+. I miss Moonlight Magic too!

 

[AvidDisReader]

I don't know that it will matter as Terri was promoted and he will report to her. She was rewarded for successfully removing benefits, saving money and preventing a riot and unfortunately, that seems to be the path to promotion now. Will the new guy realize just how tenuous the situation is with long time owners? Will he even take that outlook that we ARE owners and not just customers? I know what I would do if I were in his shoes and start off with the return of some of our losses and try to come up with something new but that takes a customer service orientation in approach. They have chosen a finance guy and although there are certainly exceptions to the rule, finance execs generally stick to what they know. Creating a board of owners comprised of a cross-section of members would be a good start, someone he and the company could use to gauge how members will view changes and issue statements to the membership explaining them would be nice. I am perfectly willing to wait and see how he does things before rendering judgement, but admit I am a bit of a skeptic going in.

I will go one step further, she was promoted for NOT doing the right thing for DVC owners. She took the heat and with a smile on her face and a fake caring about customer experience. All the while allowing something like the Point chart fiasco to go unchecked. I keep coming back to that issue since some of the others were not made by her and we do not know all that went into say the Point restrictions on secondary market purchases. I once was in management and took a different path when it became obvious that my voice was not being heard and I was expected to do things that were just not right. At the end of the day, you have to look in the mirror and live with that person.

 

[RivShore]

I don't know that it will matter as Terri was promoted and he will report to her

Where did you see that Bill reports to her under the re-org? I don't read the announcement that way, unless your sure DVC reports up thru Commercial Strategy?

 

[RivShore]

I think my biggest gripe is with Disney and not DVC... the perks like magical express, real park hopping and magical hours vanishing are hard to swallow. Plus added expense for the new FPS and Genie.

Agreed one hit after another does make it hard to swallow. I would hope real park hopping comes back post-pandemic, have you heard different?
As for ME, in one of the threads about its end, someone who said he worked for a contractor involved in the service said that changes the TSA made to baggage handling at MCO and the bankruptcy of one of the major service providers is really what doomed it. Why Disney didn't just disclose that is beyond me.

 

[RivShore]

she was promoted for NOT doing the right thing for DVC owners

FYI, Earlier in this discussion it was brought up that this was not a promotion, that it looked more like a lateral move.

 

[Liquidice]

Agreed one hit after another does make it hard to swallow. I would hope real park hopping comes back post-pandemic, have you heard different?
As for ME, in one of the treads about its end, someone who said he worked for a contractor involved in the service said that changes the TSA made to baggage handling at MCO and the bankruptcy of one of the major service providers is really what doomed it. Why Disney didn't just disclose that is beyond me.

If real park hopping comes back, I would expect to pay more for it just the way that Disney seems to be going with nickel and diming everyone. Especially if you're an Annual Passholder who gets park hopping included.

The ME could have continued without baggage delivery, it has been doing so since WDW re-opened in 2020. The company behind baggage delivery, BAGS Inc. actually didn't go out of business, but they did layoff hundreds of people in 2020. https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2020/10/09/orlando-company-bags-lays-off-hundreds-of.html

https://www.bagsinc.com/

 

[Marionnette]

Where did you see that Bill reports to her under the re-org? I don't read the announcement that way, unless your sure DVC reports up thru Commercial Strategy?

She's now a senior VP of commercial strategies for Signature Experiences. DVC is part of Signature Experiences. That doesn't mean that he reports directly to her or that she is further up the food chain from him. But there is probably going to be some interaction between the two on a regular basis.

 

[AvidDisReader]

FYI, Earlier in this discussion it was brought up that this was not a promotion, that it looked more like a lateral move.

And as been pointed out, she is over DVC so yes this is a promotion.