Rumor by agent - Blue Card min. going up

[zavandor]

Beware of what you wish for.
UOR has two FOTL tiers: the lowest allows one entry for each attraction, the other unlimited entries. Disney could do the same, but for DVC member they could just upgrade from the once perattraction to the unlimited pass. So you'd have to pay for each day you want the perk. I wouldn't be happy about it.
I don't think Disney would give unlimited FOTL pass to hotel stays or even blue card DVC members, we're too many. Universal has just 3 Deluxe resorts and giving them FOTL doesn't unbalance the system too much. At WDW it would cause havoc on lines.

 

[ScubaCat]

I doubt DVD would want to pay for something like fastpasses anyway. Perks like that can't come from dues.

 

[frank808]

I think there are lots of things they could do like allowing a buy in to be qualified with the points one has already or a purchase of a minimum # of points to make them qualified.

Luckily I have blue card from points bought direct. Dont have to buy more to qualify my DVC resale points.

I made my first developer purchase outside of DVC to qualify some Marriott resale weeks. Glad I am done with that thanks to Dean!.

 

[lea2124]

They do seem to be buying a lot of contracts back (from older properties) so it does make me think something bigger than normal is on the horizon. It'll be interesting that's for sure.

 

[Dean]

Luckily I have blue card from points bought direct. Dont have to buy more to qualify my DVC resale points.

I made my first developer purchase outside of DVC to qualify some Marriott resale weeks. Glad I am done with that thanks to Dean!.

Sure, you did well given your situation and I'm glad to have helped in some small way.

IMO DVD has missed out by not going to a VIP type system years ago, whether current (or then current) members would have been better off or not is an unknown.

 

[chehan]

Beware of what you wish for.
UOR has two FOTL tiers: the lowest allows one entry for each attraction, the other unlimited entries. Disney could do the same, but for DVC member they could just upgrade from the once perattraction to the unlimited pass. So you'd have to pay for each day you want the perk. I wouldn't be happy about it.
I don't think Disney would give unlimited FOTL pass to hotel stays or even blue card DVC members, we're too many. Universal has just 3 Deluxe resorts and giving them FOTL doesn't unbalance the system too much. At WDW it would cause havoc on lines.

I see your point. It certainly would unbalance the system in it's current form. Perhaps, though, it wouldn't wreak too much havoc if the whole system was changed? For example, in Shanghai, you can only get Premier Access upon arrival through the park gates; Disney now has control over how many guests have access to this system to prevent overloading the system.

 

[Brian Noble]

A lot of the discussion is focused on the (monetary) value of the perks. I don't think those drive sales nearly as much as the emotional value of being a full Member.

 

[Dean]

A lot of the discussion is focused on the (monetary) value of the perks. I don't think those drive sales nearly as much as the emotional value of being a full Member.

Correct but the monetary is where the true value lies, the rest is smoke and mirrors and sales hype for the most part. There are some other benefits but they are all fluff IMO and in some cases, protection from making poor choices like trading for DCL.

 

[zavandor]

Allowing to bank up to 2 months before the end of the UY, bank twice, 5 waitlists or similar would cost nothing to DVC and be a better perk than anything they already have. But can they modify the booking system in such a way to affect only direct purchasers? Prossibly grandfathering everyone?

 

[Dean]

Allowing to bank up to 2 months before the end of the UY, bank twice, 5 waitlists or similar would cost nothing to DVC and be a better perk than anything they already have. But can they modify the booking system in such a way to affect only direct purchasers? Prossibly grandfathering everyone?

It would cost DVC or DVD nothing but it would impact other members. IMO liberalizing the waitlist slightly so that it didn't penalize those for resorts with multiple unit types/views would be appropriate but likely couldn't be made part of a VIP system. Whether they could do the other type options as part of a VIP system, I'm skeptical as these are POS limitations. What they could do would be to increase costs for banking, borrowing and the like for all members then for DVD to cover those extra costs in some way as part of a VIP system. I'm doubtful and it would be problematic but to say it's impossible doesn't compute because I've seen too many things in timesharing including at least 2 other companies with similar structures do things along these lines.

 

[Eric Smith]

They do seem to be buying a lot of contracts back (from older properties) so it does make me think something bigger than normal is on the horizon. It'll be interesting that's for sure.

They probably have a backlog of people on waitlists. If they have people signed up, buying contracts back is an easy way to get some money.

 

[TheHuns]

Sure, you did well given your situation and I'm glad to have helped in some small way.

IMO DVD has missed out by not going to a VIP type system years ago, whether current (or then current) members would have been better off or not is an unknown.

Maybe I lack creativity, but I’m not sure how a VIP system would be feasible beyond what is currently offered. DVC is a timeshare. Everything that isn’t covered by dues must be paid for by a marketing budget if it seeks to exclude resale members.

It’s easy for existing members to say “we should have more benefits” when it is paid for by new members. It doesn’t seem possible to support VIP benefits for owners of 14 resorts through the money coming from the 15th resort. It creates an inverse pyramid that becomes harder to support with each new DVC resort. Even if Disney had implemented a VIP system 5 resorts ago alongside Riviera-like resale restrictions to drive people to direct sales, it wouldn’t solve the scaling problem.

I’m sure, at some point, we’ll see Disney throw up more add-ons, like the paid Fast Pass additions they piloted at Contemporary a while back. We can expect them to be expensive and not included as part of DVC membership.

 

[Dean]

Maybe I lack creativity, but I’m not sure how a VIP system would be feasible beyond what is currently offered. DVC is a timeshare. Everything that isn’t covered by dues must be paid for by a marketing budget if it seeks to exclude resale members.

It’s easy for existing members to say “we should have more benefits” when it is paid for by new members. It doesn’t seem possible to support VIP benefits for owners of 14 resorts through the money coming from the 15th resort. It creates an inverse pyramid that becomes harder to support with each new DVC resort. Even if Disney had implemented a VIP system 5 resorts ago alongside Riviera-like resale restrictions to drive people to direct sales, it wouldn’t solve the scaling problem.

I’m sure, at some point, we’ll see Disney throw up more add-ons, like the paid Fast Pass additions they piloted at Contemporary a while back. We can expect them to be expensive and not included as part of DVC membership.

I understand but I know 3 other systems that have created a VIP system on the fly at least 2 of which are based in FL, I'm not sure about the third. They all have some differences but some similarities as well. I realize there are some hurdles but I've read the POS and I'm convinced if they wanted to do this, they could, even if it meant changing the POS. IMO the perfect time to do so was years ago or with Riviera and given they haven't, I doubt they will, but to say it's impossible, I've seen far too many things with DVC and otherwise in timesharing to feel otherwise. I do feel that it'd be very difficult to mess with home resort options but relatively easy to do so with the internal exchange system if they wanted.

 

[Brian Noble]

Correct but the monetary is where the true value lies, the rest is smoke and mirrors and sales hype for the most part. There are some other benefits but they are all fluff IMO and in some cases, protection from making poor choices like trading for DCL.

Oh, I agree with you completely. But a lot of the discussion in this thread can be summarized as: "What is Disney thinking? The perks are worth less right now than they've ever been! Why would anyone pay for it! What a dumb idea!"

In other words, people are trying to convince themselves that this is a reason the potential increase won't happen. However, I suspect that most people doing the buying are not thinking of it this way, and for them it is more of an emotional purchase than a financial one. We even see this here on DISboards where people construct fairly extreme examples of how much they will "save" to justify becoming a Blue Card Member. The plausability of those scenarios is less important than the idea that it could happen, and so the purchase can be justified.

 

[Dean]

Oh, I agree with you completely. But a lot of the discussion in this thread can be summarized as: "What is Disney thinking? The perks are worth less right now than they've ever been! Why would anyone pay for it! What a dumb idea!"

In other words, people are trying to convince themselves that this is a reason the potential increase won't happen. However, I suspect that most people doing the buying are not thinking of it this way, and for them it is more of an emotional purchase than a financial one. We even see this here on DISboards where people construct fairly extreme examples of how much they will "save" to justify becoming a Blue Card Member. The plausability of those scenarios is less important than the idea that it could happen, and so the purchase can be justified.

I figured that was your view given your past posts. I guess it's the big brother in me wanting to keep people from making poor choices or at least have the information to get past the emotions as much as possible in such a purchase decision. I've seen lots of people that just couldn't bring themselves to buy resale even before there were distinctions between the 2. I do think in some ways these restrictions have done the informed a favor because now you have to think more about it based on the prices and requirements compared to what you are and are not getting. For years I've warned about the long term anticipation of a pass discount, often people approach this as if it's written into the contract where in reality it has always been something that could go away and it may not even come back now.

 

[Brianstl]

Allowing to bank up to 2 months before the end of the UY, bank twice, 5 waitlists or similar would cost nothing to DVC and be a better perk than anything they already have. But can they modify the booking system in such a way to affect only direct purchasers? Prossibly grandfathering everyone?

They legally can't do anything like that for blue card members and not do it for white card members.

 

[zavandor]

If they allow access to the BVTC only to direct purchasers, why couldn't they modify the POS to allow access to other services in different ways?

 

[TheHuns]

If they allow access to the BVTC only to direct purchasers, why couldn't they modify the POS to allow access to other services in different ways?

Limiting access to an exchange it different because it’s not part of the real estate agreement. Resale members pay the same dues as direct members, so resale members must have the same access to the properties.

The best comp I can think of is the restriction on resale entering the Imagination Lounge vs Top of the World. Top of the World is part of BLT, so the dues pay for it. A resale member that is able to book at BLT has the same rights to access the lounge as direct members because the dues pay for it.

 

[lovethesun12]

Beware of what you wish for.
UOR has two FOTL tiers: the lowest allows one entry for each attraction, the other unlimited entries. Disney could do the same, but for DVC member they could just upgrade from the once perattraction to the unlimited pass. So you'd have to pay for each day you want the perk. I wouldn't be happy about it.
I don't think Disney would give unlimited FOTL pass to hotel stays or even blue card DVC members, we're too many. Universal has just 3 Deluxe resorts and giving them FOTL doesn't unbalance the system too much. At WDW it would cause havoc on lines.

Yeah it's definitely not something I would wish for. I like FP+ and would rather not switch to something more uncertain. I'm considering more DVC but there really is no benefit of purchasing direct for me. If the paid FP+ ever becomes more than a rumor, it's the only thing I can think of that could potentially make purchasing direct worth it, but that'd different for everyone. That said these are just my random thoughts, so there are a million reasons why it probably would never happen. I hope that's the case actually.

 

[lovethesun12]

I doubt DVD would want to pay for something like fastpasses anyway. Perks like that can't come from dues.

Do they pay for EMH? I'm just curious, I really have no idea.