New DVC Perks... Your Opinions...

[disneymom8589]

This is not so much a perk as an operational improvement, but I'd sure love to be able to check availability and book online.

I agree! The MS hours are not the most conducive for those of us on the West Coast. I either have to call in the a.m. before work or during recess and lunch breaks. An online booking would be great!

 

[kjjlouie]

How about Florida Resident AP's? I would love to be able to get one of these. If not, a Disney USA AP that is good for both WDW and DL.

 

[MinnieGirl33]

1). On-line visibility to availability & ability to book instantly
2). Better DCL rates

BUT

Pleeeeeaaaaase leave my AP discount alone!

 

[bwvBound]

One that I would like is the ability to purchase the Epcot After 4 Pass and the Water Park After 2 Pass.

Ditto the "Epcot After 4 Pass!"

Other items on my wish list:

• Waive the $95 fee charged to inbound II guests if that guest is a DVC owner
• Ability to search and book II Getaway weeks (rentals) directly through II.
• Expand BVTC relationships with other vacation clubs: Worldmark, Bluegreen, Marriott, etc.
• Improve shopping/dining/admission discounts in Anaheim.

 

[JimMIA]

How about Florida Resident AP's? I would love to be able to get one of these.

That would only be a savings of $25...and I suspect there might be some legal complications to that. They could offer the DVC discount AP for the same price, I guess, but I think it might be problematic to call it "FL resident." Owning a timeshare doesn't make someone a Florida resident.

 

[jade1]

1). On-line visibility to availability & ability to book instantly

That is a good one, even if you cant officialy book it right then and there, at least allow looking at what's open and you can then make the phone call. Anytime I see a great airline deal, I think it would sure be nice to see what's available at DVC-especially with AP's in the back pocket.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm another one who would love to be able to check availability on-line. I wouldn't mind calling MS if I knew I could book what I wanted by checking on-line first.
I love the AP discount we get now. And I love the discount at the World of Disney store that I get with it...do all my shopping at the end of my trip and ship it all home from the store. And I love my DDE card...wish they hadn't increased the price though. Since my dh and dd don't go as often as I do, I now have to get them non-expire. hoppers, so it would be nice if we got a discount on those passes.
I'm glad they have given us the option of buying the DDP. And the discounts on some events is nice....just wish it could be a better discount. It might be nice to match the DisneyVisa perks as well.
But overall, I'm pretty happy with what I get.

 

[TLinden16]

I would love to be able to view inventory and book online.

And it would be nice to be able to get discounted tickets for people who are staying in the room with us.

I love the AP discount though. Hope that never goes away.

Beyond that, I am grateful for any small perk DVC gives us.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

I don't mean to hijack- but it seems really strange that they don't have this already. Is there a reason they don't have this? With all the talk about the operational costs of MS you would think this would be a no brainer. I agree it would be nice for II availability as well- but I huess that is another issue altogether.

 

[Chuck S]

I don't mean to hijack- but it seems really strange that they don't have this already. Is there a reason they don't have this? With all the talk about the operational costs of MS you would think this would be a no brainer. I agree it would be nice for II availability as well- but I huess that is another issue altogether.

More than likely because it would extremely complicated; home resort priority, banking, borrowing, multiple contracts, transferred points, etc. Then they'd have to make the program "idiot proof." How many "Are You Sure? Y/N" screens would we have to go through?

 

[TenThousandVolts]

That makes sense ChuckS- they could allow you to check availibilty though with a standard disclaimer that availability is subject to change at any moment. Even this would allieviate administrative costs.

 

[bwvBound]

More than likely because it would extremely complicated; home resort priority, banking, borrowing, multiple contracts, transferred points, etc. Then they'd have to make the program "idiot proof." How many "Are You Sure? Y/N" screens would we have to go through?

Complicated and "difficult" - sure. But neither "impossible" nor "an industry first!"

One of my other points-based clubs has provided online availability, booking and cancellation for years. Their system addresses:

• Plenty of resort locations and unit types. 50+ resort properties ... most offering a variety of studio, 1BR, 2BR, 3BR and Penthouse units. Dedicated inventory of "special needs" unit configurations as well as supporting location, view, and unique unit features.
• Different reservation windows: 13 months, 11 months, 10 months, 90-day, 30-day, 14-day and 5-day.
• Complex cancellation handling based on reservation type, date made, date cancelled, etc.
• Owner's point balance - including banked, borrowed and transferred points.
• Owner's reservation history.
• Collection of local resort taxes and housekeeping fees if applicable.
• Support for both points-based reservations and cash reservations ("bonus time").

It certainly can be done!

All that said, it no longer bothers me that DVC doesn't offer online reservations. While we book 6 to 8 resort visits each year through the other system ... we rarely book more than one DVC trip. Booking via phone isn't a big deal for an annual visit.

 

[bwvBound]

What are your 'wish list' items?

I'm wishing for discounted exchanges during II's FlexChange window (59-days). I propose any exchange booked inside the FlexChange window for only 106 DVC points plus exchange fees. Yes, any exchange: any resort, any size unit, any season.

(106 points is based existing exchange rate for studio in low season.)

 

[Cruelladeville]

How about competing with the other best timeshare in Orlando (Marriott) and offer free internet? $10 a day is way too much for the service.

I about died when my guide regaled the perk of having internet at DVC... at only $9.95 a day. I told him I get that for free at my current timeshare so it's actually a downgrade not a perk.

Marriott also offers a 13 month window for those who own 2 or more weeks. Those of us with multiples of 150 pts should get a nice reservation window like that, too! And, while we are at it, how about those 100 TV cable stations, and discounts on buying extra weeks at your same resort?

 

[doconeill]

At the very least, just charge us the actual cost. $300.00 a month for the internet is a little steep!

I most emphatically agree.

There is another thread about using mobile aircards, but those are pretty steep as well, and I'd only need it on rare occasions. But even on vacation, I'd like to check my personal e-mail and make sure my web sites are still running, etc.

$10 for what I'd really use less than 30 minutes a day (I'm here for parks after all!) is way off. Of course, I could leave the computer connected downloading the entire Internet while I'm in line at Space Mountain...

They could easily rate-limit connections to prevent abuse, etc.

I hate reading about how a place has "Internet access", only to find out that that want a ridiculous amount for it.

 

[kimberh]

I would love Magic my way ticket discounts. When we take the family, some married, we can not all get annual passes. I wish we would get the same discounts given to Flordia res.
All of the above sound wonderful to me!

 

[Barb]

I couldn't agree more on the internet access! Having to pay $10 a day is ridiculous and almost insulting!

I'd also like to see us get the morning paper. If we were staying in a deluxe, we'd have it every morning. But now that we're DVC members, we don't. I find it a royal pain to run down to the store to pick up the paper.

 

[3DisneyKids]

This is not so much a perk as an operational improvement, but I'd sure love to be able to check availability and book online.

HUGE DITTO

 

[jade1]

More than likely because it would extremely complicated; home resort priority, banking, borrowing, multiple contracts, transferred points, etc. Then they'd have to make the program "idiot proof." How many "Are You Sure? Y/N" screens would we have to go through?

Agreed, but showing what's available alone would be nice, maybe it wont allow on line booking but you could still make the call once you see whats available and you qualify for.

 

[TLinden16]

I don't think this will be a very popular idea around here, but I'd love to see the 7 month window change to more like a five month window. It would be nice to not have to book so far in advance to get my home resort (BWV). It would still give people from other resorts plenty of time to try to get the smaller resorts five months out, and give owners a little extra time to finalize their plans.