Poll for DVC Members who have been in longer then 5 years....

[bom_noite]

People on the Rumors board are saying that they felt attendance was down this summer at DHS, Epcot and AK. Ok, WDW loves DVC as we are a captive audience who will attend multiple times a year, yearly or bi-yearly.

But, does that increase park attendance?

 

[eporter66]

It is not that our attendance patterns to the parks have changed, but our stays are longer since we joined DVC. We have been members for 10 years, and for the most part come once a year. We always hit all four parks. Our DD is 9 so not going to the parks would not work for her

We do more outside the parks now thanks to the additional days of our vacations.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We have been members for 10 years. We never were commando type park people, but we stay in parks for a shorter amount of time. I replied "less". But maybe actual entrances into a park could be the same.

 

[chalee94]

during my stays, i am less focused on the parks than i used to be. i tend to be less concerned about showing up at rope drop and maximizing my ride count. but overall, i have visited wdw more often since i bought DVC than i did before.

 

[RoutemanDan]

We used to go once every couple of years and stay for 12 days. Of those 12 days, just about everyday was a park day filled with plans.

Since owning DVC we go 2-3 times per year, have AP's and meander around the parks doing what we feel like doing. Sometimes that's a lot of nothing.I can't remember the last time I waited on a line that was more than 15 minutes. I won't do it now.

So we go more, but we do far less because we know we can always do whatever it is another time.

 

[com_op_2000]

Our park attending days have gone down since we joined. We just prefer a more relaxed pace than the parks allow when we travel by ourselves.
Now if we have family/friends with us, we can go commando all day long if they want.
So to each there own; change the way you travel/experience WDW/DVC and maybe find something new that you like or dislike.

 

[rowlands57]

I have been a DVC member for 9 years. The pattern has changed for just my family over the years as the parks are less critical. Whenever we bring guests things are different in that we use all they have to offer on those occasions. Depends on who is on a given trip. We do tend to hit EPCOT a lot as our home is BCV.

 

[Poohs Pal]

Unless we are bringing family members with little one's we spend less time in the parks then before becoming members. We may have a girls day at the spa or a shopping day at DTD. We have taken a trip to The Tampa Hard Rock Casino multiple times. We have went to Clearwater Beach for lunch at The Palm Pavillion. This trip we are taking a trip to a wine bar in I believe Winter Park. We will also do some shopping there. If we go during the Holidays we will visit the resorts for Holiday decorations, have lunch at GFC and then go see Yee Haa Bob that evening. Oh and Jellyrolls many nights during our stay. We usually stay a minimum of 2 weeks. I no longer feel the need to arrive before rope drop or stay until the last firework has fallen from the sky.

 

[DeeCee735]

People on the Rumors board are saying that they felt attendance was down this summer at DHS, Epcot and AK. Ok, WDW loves DVC as we are a captive audience who will attend multiple times a year, yearly or bi-yearly.

But, does that increase park attendance?

Don't know about the summer, but I was there 2 weeks ago and I've never seen MK so crowded (I have never been there during Christmas, but have during Easter break)

 

[rlduvall]

We always go around the last week of May or first week of June. This year we went 06/01 - 06/11 and we both thought it was significantly busier everywhere.

 

[bom_noite]

Don't know about the summer, but I was there 2 weeks ago and I've never seen MK so crowded (I have never been there during Christmas, but have during Easter break)

We always go around the last week of May or first week of June. This year we went 06/01 - 06/11 and we both thought it was significantly busier everywhere.

You can read the Thread on the Rumor Board, but, some people felt Late July and August were a bit thin. Here in Atlanta - schools now start in August - and I know this is becoming a norm US wide.

On the other hand, since I work with Europeans, I know that their Holidays begin in August. Would that not balance things out? Or, maybe not as economic reasons have slowed the European migration down a bit?

Others speculated: What has WDW done for me lately? Universal, as Pete Werner said, had a "Game Changer" with Harry Potter world!

All of the above could be factors. I do know that we may have seen the last of the WDW "Pay for Stay" hotels - I see DVC is now the norm.

Thus the poll? Obviously DVC is a boon for WDW as we are all pretty much obligated in going to Orlando, renting our points or giving them to friends / family! But, once you go each and every year - as we do - you can see the potential lethargy in making park visits a priority. While we do use our points - I have little need to see Fantasmic for the 97th time when it is raining! Maybe that drives park attendance down a bit?

If attendance is down, obviously, it is more complex then just DVC members, but, since we make up such a large proportion of on-site guests, it is part of the equation.

Not sure I can glean anything from the Poll just yet, but, the posts have been very interesting.

 

[DVC Sue]

Owning at DVC hasn't changed my park attendance. I do stay at 'closer' rooms now. I never stayed on property before. It seemed too expensive.

 

[christianweecare]

DH & I have been DVC members for 8 years now. We bought after our kids were grown and gone so our travel is different now anyway. DH & I use our DVC for hosting our kids & grandkids about every other year. DH & I spend a week at Vero every year and make quick weekend trips throughout the year now. Usually whenever we do our weekend trips we will hit just one park. Most of the time we do a day trip to Epcot.

 

[dianeschlicht]

during my stays, i am less focused on the parks than i used to be. i tend to be less concerned about showing up at rope drop and maximizing my ride count. but overall, i have visited wdw more often since i bought DVC than i did before.

We used to go once every couple of years and stay for 12 days. Of those 12 days, just about everyday was a park day filled with plans.

Since owning DVC we go 2-3 times per year, have AP's and meander around the parks doing what we feel like doing. Sometimes that's a lot of nothing.I can't remember the last time I waited on a line that was more than 15 minutes. I won't do it now.

So we go more, but we do far less because we know we can always do whatever it is another time.

These two quotes would both kind of characterize our situation as well. We travel more frequently than we did 16 years ago before DVC, and we spend part of nearly every day in the parks, but we aren't going to stand in long lines or get crazy about doing everything on each trip. We mostly just go to new things and our old favorites and just meander.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I responded go more but my answer is skewed because we go to WDW more now because we are members. I don't ever recall a day I have been at WDW for the entire day and not at least "set foot" inside a park.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

These two quotes would both kind of characterize our situation as well. We travel more frequently than we did 16 years ago before DVC, and we spend part of nearly every day in the parks, but we aren't going to stand in long lines or get crazy about doing everything on each trip. We mostly just go to new things and our old favorites and just meander.

Exactly. That's us too.

 

[spiceycat]

brought DVC in 1993 - those first years when Disney was paying for the tickets - went every day.

Now not so often - heck that is why brought AP/DVC can go when I want too.

if I still brought the day passes would probably be even less.

with the fp+ they seem to have offended the offsiders - go look on the Orlando board - so this is not a big surprise for me.

went July 4 - and it was pretty crowded - now this last summer it rained a lot!!!!

so a lot of people don't want to be in a park during a rain storm. These were not the normal Florida rain storms. These were hard rain storm generally with thunder (so that closed some rides) and they lasted a heck of a lot longer than normal too.

normally rain storm is it rains a hour maybe 3 and quits - these things generally do not quit until the sunset and started up again at night.

 

[DVCmember1992]

We have been members since 1992. On average we attend WDW more frequently then I think we would if we were non-members, generally once a year. We stay for 8 or more days each trip (since we have to fly down, etc..) and we visit the parks at least 6 of the 8 days. So, I would say fort family we are attending the parks more as DVC members then if we were not.

 

[RAD]

We're planning on going less, mainly due to ticket prices. We used to buy a 7 to 10 day pass that didn't expire, making the per day cost reasonable. We then took short trips, 3 or 4 days twice a year. But now with having to pay for non expiration option and airfare prices going up we just can't justify it and after a trip this December not planning to go back until December 2015 at the earliest and have rented out our points we're not going to be using.

 

[rmcildw2m]

We go about same 1 or 2 times a year still ,but we don't feel like we have to go to the parks every single day either . So dvc has made our trips less tiring ,a blessing I think .