Pre-Order PhotoPass $99 Deal - Gone

[PinkTink63]

 

[vicki_c]

Well, this is Disney. I'd about die of shock if you actually got a written answer that said "Yep, we certainly might give you a break on the price..."

I would rather have them say "no, there are no plans to EVER offer DVC members a deal" or "we don't know at this time" than that *(%# Disney double-speak.

Disney is the absolute worst when it comes to not answering questions -- just giving a canned boilerplate response that doesn't even come close to answering the specific question asked. It's ridiculous.

And I did write back to them, saying something just like that -- without the cursing!

 

[twinklebug]

For my Dec Trip, our first night is booked at one of the values (S'ok, I've always wanted an excuse to try a value for a night - as long as I finish out the trip at one of my favorite DVCs)

Disney Destinations just emailed me the "Disney Vacations Must Sees for the ____ family" including the link to the $99.95 pre-order CD. So a single night booked at one of the Disney resorts at the start or end of your vacation will work. Just thought I'd let you know, a compete vacation package is not required.

I doubt I'll take them up on the offer. I did photopass shares back when they were permitted, and must say to get $100 value out of it with just my kids and I I'd constantly be living in front of the cameras just to get a handful of shots without me lookin' funny

 

[ToddyLu]

If you think getting the Photopass CD for $99 is difficult. Try getting a refund for it. We took 2, yes 2 pics last year with PP and of course had prepaid for the CD. It took me two weeks, multiple phone calls and emails to get past the double talk and finally get the refund. Never again!! I will just pay for the individual photos if we want them.

 

[Mrs Hobbes]

DOn't forget that you can ask the photopass photographers to take photos for you with your own camera too

So the solution, stop get a photopass photo done and one with your own camera and then put your own pictures on your own free CD when you get home

 

[stormer]

This was posted in another thread by Brad K:

I'm working directly with PhotoPass to get the best information I can and to update the Definitive Guide to PhotoPass to accurately reflect the current situation.

This is based on information I was given with a little bit of what else I've seen, but here's the basic rundown as I understand it:


Quote:
Recently the procedure for doing this has changed and is as follows: guests who book a Walt Disney World vacation either online at the Walt Disney World website or over the phone directly with the Walt Disney World Reservation Center will receive an email from Disney approximately at the mid-point between booking the vacation and the check-in date or at 45 days, whichever is less. The email subject will be 'Disney Vacation Must Sees for the (name) Family' and will contain, amongst other information, a link to pre-purchase the Disney's PhotoPass PhotoCD at a discounted rate. In order for a guest to receive this email, however, the following two conditions must be met: (1) Disney must have the guest's email address on file; and (2) the guest must have given permission to receive promotional emails. Please note that DVC members and their guests and those who book through a travel agent are ineligible to receive the discount offer at this time. While this is expected to change in the future, guests who are staying at a non-Disney owned and operated resort will be required to pay the full rate.

I'm willing to get any questions answered I can. I've already inquired about cases like Wish trips where they are likely staying offsite, so I'll follow up with that if there's anything, but the bottom line is this does not reflect a change in policy at all.

Here is a link to the whole thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2311463

Basically it seems like DVC members willnot be able to get this any more, but most others will!

 

[Brian Noble]

Perhaps. Someone who isn't staying onsite for an upcoming trip posted on another board that she got one of these emails. So who knows?

Even if this is the state of affairs today, the winds of change blow swiftly in Orlando---tomorrow, it will be different.

 

[vicki_c]

I did get a more intelligible and human response from the Photopass people today (in response to my 2nd e-mail)! Here's what they said:

Thank you for your request for assistance. We do not know if there will
be an opportunity for this prepurchase offer to be made availble to DVC
members in the future.

Now, I'm not happy with the answer -- but at least it's honest - they don't know.

This was sent by a different PP CM than the first one, apparently someone with better reading/writing skills!

I also went to DVC and sent an e-mail asking them to look into getting that as a member perk.

 

[alamode]

The person I talked to today at Photopass stated "At this time, no, DVC members do not get to pre-order, but since you're trip isn't until May of next year, I would think this would change by then."

Take that for what it's worth. I think they were getting a lot of DVC inquiries today.

 

[joshua4]

I am renting points in Feb. and just saw a post on the Theme Park board from BradK which seems to have an update -- he says:


* PLEASE READ *

I have some additional information.

Although DVC members (staying on points) do not currently receive the email, DVC members can contact PhotoPass with their member id and reservation # and get the pre-order discount offer upon request.


So -- I think things may be looking up.

Lauren

 

[podsnel]

I found this out last week when i tried to purchase the CD early. And i called PP and was told it was not available to DVC, but it was available to everyone else staying on cash. This one DOES make me mad- I don't like being discriminated against for being a DVC member. I can understand their reasons for taking away other things that are special for us because of $$ (like the valet parking), I don't LIKE it, but I can UNDERSTAND it. But THIS is crap.

Come to Disney once every 5 years, and get a DVD of your pictures at a discount!! Come to Disney more often and get to pay more for those pics every time you come!! Have a magical Day!! It's kind of the opposite of other frequent customer incentive plans, don't ya think?

 

[vicki_c]

I found this out last week when i tried to purchase the CD early. And i called PP and was told it was not available to DVC, but it was available to everyone else staying on cash. This one DOES make me mad- I don't like being discriminated against for being a DVC member. I can understand their reasons for taking away other things that are special for us because of $$ (like the valet parking), I don't LIKE it, but I can UNDERSTAND it. But THIS is crap.

Come to Disney once every 5 years, and get a DVD of your pictures at a discount!! Come to Disney more often and get to pay more for those pics every time you come!! Have a magical Day!! It's kind of the opposite of other frequent customer incentive plans, don't ya think?

See the post above yours for the current resolution for DVC members - we can get the discount.

 

[podsnel]

See the post above yours for the current resolution for DVC members - we can get the discount.

That was posted while I was complaining- too funny! Thanks for the info-I'm a happy DVC member once again!

 

[ccigliano]

I am renting points in Feb. and just saw a post on the Theme Park board from BradK which seems to have an update -- he says:


* PLEASE READ *

I have some additional information.

Although DVC members (staying on points) do not currently receive the email, DVC members can contact PhotoPass with their member id and reservation # and get the pre-order discount offer upon request.


So -- I think things may be looking up.

Lauren

This is Great News!!! Thanks so much for following up, I will call Photopass tomorrow to get the perk as I'd love to get the CD for $99 for our Christmas Trip. My sister's family (two adorable nieces) are joining us so it should be a great time. I'll let you know how I make out tomorrow.

 

[andijean]

Let me know how it goes when you call photopass. Do you know what the number is to call? We are going in 5 weeks and I would like to get this. Thanks!

 

[d-r]

You know, I think this is a problem with the bloated software they are using. I think they just didn't figure out that it was cutting out dvc members. And then the regular cms down the line figure it was meant to be that way.

We've bought several photopass cds. I think that the pre-purchase price is there to get you to be pre-buy a cd, not as "perk." And to whoever said 10% - the difference between 149 and 99 isn't 10%. I think the purpose of that is to get you locked in to buying the cd. It is a marketing offer.

But then they put the new software in place so that it would e-mail this out to get people interested, but somebody forgot to enter it for DVC. Remember when they first put alacarte on-line for making dining reservations? For a few days dvc members couldn't make on-line reservations because the coders hadn't remembered to take care of that.

Here's an example. We are coming back in December, and we've made our dining reservations. We were walking through epcot the other day and saw that remy the rat was still at chefs of france. We hadn't made a reservation there, but our kids wanted to go in December, but we couldn't remember what we'd reserved when. Anyway, yesterday I was standing by the guest services desk waiting for people to catch up, and I remembered, oh yeah, dining for December. So I went to ask them for a print out. No big deal here, but the new system doesn't have a way to print out your dining reservations anymore! They forgot to put that in there. They are hoping that they will add it back in.

I honestly think it is an IT problem of omission rather than a planned situation where someone decided oh, let's give this offer to guests booked through DRC but not DVC. They just didn't put it in the computer program.

Disney World's IT is a joke right now. They've put this hugely bloated and slow reservation software in place, and they've "forgotten" all sorts of things. It's a joke.

 

[Crystal_27]

DVC members can contact PhotoPass with their member id and reservation # and get the pre-order discount offer upon request.

 

[Eeyore2142]

I just called and got it for my November trip. I called 407-560-4300. All they needed was my confirmation number and email I use for photopass. I was given a code that will give $50 off when you order the CD after you home home. It was not a pre-order, but a coupon.

 

[headgorilla]

Well, I called this morning as well. I spoke with a guy named Mike. He said that the discount was not offered to DVC members, but to expect it to be extended to DVC members in the near future. I also told him that I had heard that if I call and request it, it would be granted. He stated that he didn't know where I had heard that, but it was not true and that it was only for people staying at the resorts. He asked when I was going to Disney and when I told him Feb., he then said to expect an email in Dec. with the promotion.
So the whole conversation seemed to be double talk. I intend to call them again at 45 days out from my trip, if I don not get an email. Hopefully I will get some satisfaction!

 

[vicki_c]

Well, I called this morning as well. I spoke with a guy named Mike. He said that the discount was not offered to DVC members, but to expect it to be extended to DVC members in the near future. I also told him that I had heard that if I call and request it, it would be granted. He stated that he didn't know where I had heard that, but it was not true and that it was only for people staying at the resorts. He asked when I was going to Disney and when I told him Feb., he then said to expect an email in Dec. with the promotion.
So the whole conversation seemed to be double talk. I intend to call them again at 45 days out from my trip, if I don not get an email. Hopefully I will get some satisfaction!

The information Brad posted (not sure if it's in this thread or just the Theme Parks board thread specifically said for people staying ON-SITE -- so it is not currently being offered to DVC members staying off-site. Your post made it sound like you're not on-site? (the part I bolded). If you are on-site, within 45 days of your trip, and a DVC member -- you can call and ask for the discount as well. So if those things are true, I would call back and "thank you for playing Cast Member roulette!"