PLEASE READ, because I think I have a real solution to AP issue (no joke)

[Doctor P]

I'm not sure I have heard that quote. Thanks for a second laugh in under five minutes!!

 

[Skip Wiley]

Originally posted by Skip Wiley
I think it was Socrates who said "Life's too short to suck"

Don't quote me on that, I had a very strange philosophy teacher in college, I think he made some of the stuff up Personally, I prefer "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time"

 

[SoCalKDG]

Dr P, just stay with 7 day park hopper plusses from Hot Wire Savings Club. You can get this for $320, then you get 7 days of parks and 4 days of waterparks, with no expiration date. This should last you two vacations, resulting in a cost of $160 per vacation.

 

[crisi]

Originally posted by DVCPAT
I disagree.

Would you spend a (discounted) hopper pass day to enter a theme park for dinner or shopping?

How would you stop me from selling a discounted hopper pass for a small profit?

Disney has offered the AP discount for DVC members to increase revenue. It’s targeted toward the customers (DVC members) that spend the most time on-site. If I spend 21- days per year in WDW, Disney thinks they can make a larger profit from me, than someone who spends 7 days on-site.

Simply put, Disney thinks people who vacation more have more disposable income. They want every dime of my vacation budget and by offering me this discounted pass, they will get it. I would spend my energy on things I can control, like ways to increase my vacation budget.

UPHs are the LOS pass - not hoppers. We currently get a 10% discount on them. They are the only pass Disney offers that ties your stay to the parks, and therefore the best pass (superior to APs) to encourage the behavior you are talking about.

Someone who spends 21 days onsite is already getting APs, and therefore Disney isn't making a any profit on the discount from them. Where Disney will see an increase is in those people who do spend about seven days to two weeks, don't need pluses, and were making a hopper stretch. With four pluses on a seven day hopper, that's eleven days of activity. Plus two days at Universal and a day by the pool, and you don't need a (formerly expensive) AP. And a UPH in that scenario is much more expensive than even an AP.

The target I'm proposing is the week or less folks who do use pluses. Right now, the AP is, at best, even with the discount, a break even proposition for them. The PAP is more expensive than the UPH. We like the UPH and find it a good deal, but based on feedback here from the prior to AP discount threads, I'm pretty much alone in liking the darn thing. This discount isn't going to change their park behavior or discourage them from Universal - a comparable UPH discount might (or it might not).

What the APs have going for them - and it shouldn't be discounted lightly - is that they encourage people to squeeze in another trip. It seems strange to me - but I live in Minnesota where it costs my family $1000 in airfare to get there (or 24 hours nonstop on the road), and I'm too frugal to spend $1000 to get more days out of an AP. If I had an eight hour drive, I might think differently. But that is the only thing APs have going for them that UPHs don't in terms of changing behavior.

 

[DVCPAT]

Originally posted by crisi
The target I'm proposing is the week or less folks who do use pluses. Right now, the AP is, at best, even with the discount, a break even proposition for them. The PAP is more expensive than the UPH. We like the UPH and find it a good deal, but based on feedback here from the prior to AP discount threads, I'm pretty much alone in liking the darn thing. This discount isn't going to change their park behavior or discourage them from Universal - a comparable UPH discount might (or it might not).

I see your point, but I don’t see the benefit for Disney to offer discounts on UPH.

DVC members who own 150 point contracts will make the best of use of their limited vacation time, visiting on-site attractions (kids have a big say in this matter). They might visit MGM 10-12 times in a 5 year span. A DVC member who owns a 300 point (and up) contract may visit MGM 20-30 times in the same 5 year span.

After you ride Star Wars and visit other attractions over 30 times in a five year span, its novelty is worn out. At this point, off-site attractions and dining become much more tempting. I think DVC understands this and wants to keep members with more vacation time on-site. I think members who visit WDW less frequently are less tempted to venture off-site. Why give discounts if you don’t have to?

 

[Doctor P]

Actually, Pat, there are a lot of assumptions in your statement that may or may not be true. The largest one is that a person who owns 300 points will go more often than someone who owns 150 points. If the 150 point person stays in studios, and the 300 point person stays in a 1BR at the same time of year, then the 300 point person will actually be able to stay fewer nights. I'm not trying at all to be disagreeable, but just pointing out that things are not quite as easy to wade through as it may seem on the face. I see the point you are trying to make, but I'm just not sure it really holds true as much as one might wish to believe.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Doctor P
Actually, Pat, there are a lot of assumptions in your statement that may or may not be true. The largest one is that a person who owns 300 points will go more often than someone who owns 150 points. If the 150 point person stays in studios, and the 300 point person stays in a 1BR at the same time of year, then the 300 point person will actually be able to stay fewer nights. I'm not trying at all to be disagreeable, but just pointing out that things are not quite as easy to wade through as it may seem on the face. I see the point you are trying to make, but I'm just not sure it really holds true as much as one might wish to believe.

That's true in rate situations but in general the number of people nights will increase with the number of points owned.

 

[Doctor P]

Oh, I definitely agree that that is true in general, but among DIS'ers there seem to be some pretty creative people who are getting way more out of their points than the typical DVC'ers. In addition, there are a lot of people who do not like to stay in studios (unlike us), in which case they need at least double the points for any given trip. So, I think you do have to at least compare apples to apples. Maybe this would be an interesting poll. I think I will post to see if there is a difference in the types of units used by the number of points one has.