Sooooo Disappointed !!

[pyrxtc]

I received a Dream Book today for my MIL (since she is the one who paid for my add-on) and it is a flimsy paperback book with the points chart separate from it. I was looking forward to giving her the nice hardback book.

 

[Disney Princess]

Bummer! When did they change?

 

[pyrxtc]

I don't know but hopefully this is a one time print and they fix it. It certainly doesn't show the quality that DVC usually puts out for it promotional stuff.

 

[Caren]

I got a hardback book for the older resorts plus a sort of paperback addendum with the new resorts in it.

 

[KLR-wlv]

Separate point chart...that sounds ominous. Plan on changing those enough to warrant keeping down printing costs??

 

[DVC Mike]

I received a Dream Book today for my MIL (since she is the one who paid for my add-on) and it is a flimsy paperback book with the points chart separate from it. I was looking forward to giving her the nice hardback book.

I think they started with the new format at the end of February or perhaps earlier.

 

[disneynutz]

Another cost cutting move by Disney.

 

[oakmanner]

I agree, the old hard cover Dreams books were awesome. However, in these tough economic times Disney is enlisting cost cutting measures across all sectors of their businesses. Personally I'd rather they cut quality on items like the Dreams book than raise MF's more than usual or cut back somewhere else that will impact current owners. Remember a lot of those Dreams books get thrown away by people that ultimately don't join DVC.

 

[stopher1]

We got the softbound book at the Doorway to Dreams event in February. When I was at WDW I met with my guide and got another softbound book. I asked about the hardcovers, and she said at that time that she didn't know or believe there would be hardcover ones anymore. I took that as just another cost cutting move when she said it.

 

[bumbershoot]

We only just joined, but I think I have 4 different versions of the books.

I personally thought the hardbound once (blue cover) looked like nothing more than a Shutterfly photobook. Didn't impress me all that much after the initial ooh and ahh. The second one of those we got had a points chart and info sheet slipped into it about AKV b/c it didn't include anything about AKV.

Then I got a thin blue one, paperback, at an event.

And when we joined, we got a bigger paperback with special artwork on it, with mickey in a balloon. THAT was impressive, IMO. I really like that one. Doesn't have '10 points, but it's still nice IMO.

Losing the hardback also makes it easier to recycle once the covered years are done with and you've grown tired of leafing through it (not that that's happened with me yet, though we're using one of the hardbound books for scrapbooking purposes...don't know what I'll do with the covers though!).

 

[disneynutz]

I agree, the old hard cover Dreams books were awesome. However, in these tough economic times Disney is enlisting cost cutting measures across all sectors of their businesses. Personally I'd rather they cut quality on items like the Dreams book than raise MF's more than usual or cut back somewhere else that will impact current owners. Remember a lot of those Dreams books get thrown away by people that ultimately don't join DVC.

I don't feel sorry for big companies like Disney, and don't get me wrong we love Disney.

During good economic times they blow through money like you can't believe and don't keep any for the possible hard times. Now that the economy has tightened up, they are all crying the blues and using the economic excuse to cut people and programs which will make them even more money as the economy picks up. So far this year Disney has netted 1.5 Billion dollars and the DVD/DVC just moved into a new custom built building. I wish that I had their problems.

 

[tjkraz]

During good economic times they blow through money like you can't believe and don't keep any for the possible hard times. Now that the economy has tightened up, they are all crying the blues...

So are you upset that DVC printed hardcover marketing materials in the first place or the fact that they are being phased-out?

...and using the economic excuse to cut people and programs which will make them even more money as the economy picks up.

Well, in this particular case I'm not sure your comments hold much weight. Disney faced what appear to have been far greater struggles as recently as 2002-2004. But the economy rebounded and we still got hardcover books. So apparently there was some level of recovery from the '02-'04 belt-tightening.

So far this year Disney has netted 1.5 Billion dollars and the DVD/DVC just moved into a new custom built building. I wish that I had their problems.

While it's true Disney has made a lot of money, it's also true that they made far more in prior years. Disney's stock is down $10 per share over the last year which translates into more than $20 billion in paper losses.

If DIS hadn't made that $1.5 billion in profit the stock price would be lower and the losses greater. And it's much more than an abstract paper loss to anyone planning to retire in the next few years.

Bob Iger and Steve Jobs may stand to gain a lot more than you or I from the company's financial health, but let's not trivialize the millions of shareholders who collectively win or lose, too. We're playing by Wall Street's rules.

 

[RobDoc]

The original DVC Member Guides were looseleaf binders with the DVC logo on the cover. Each year, members would receive updated information pages and point charts to add to the binder. Over the years there have been a number of different styles and modifications to both the member guidebooks and the promotional material. The Dream book was simply another of the many variations of these changes.

 

[CarolA]

Maybe it's me... but I don't see the need for Disney to pay to send me hard bound books.
I am not sure what this book is, but if it's marketing I don't really care and if it's my member book then I don't want my dues paying extra for "hard bound" so that we can give it away as a "fancy" gift. IMHO it's time for Disney to quit printing all this stuff anyway. Yes, I know we all like to look at it, but Disney keeps saying they are going green and there's nothing "green" about sending me tons of paper! They should make us "opt in" if we still want paper. Let's quit wasting our dues on paper, mailing etc....

 

[oakmanner]

Let's quit wasting our dues on paper, mailing etc....

 

[Tara]

Maybe it's me... but I don't see the need for Disney to pay to send me hard bound books.
I am not sure what this book is, but if it's marketing I don't really care and if it's my member book then I don't want my dues paying extra for "hard bound" so that we can give it away as a "fancy" gift. IMHO it's time for Disney to quit printing all this stuff anyway. Yes, I know we all like to look at it, but Disney keeps saying they are going green and there's nothing "green" about sending me tons of paper! They should make us "opt in" if we still want paper. Let's quit wasting our dues on paper, mailing etc....

Amen! If they're going to print anything, I'd prefer they go back to the binder system. Opting out would be great, too, or create a desktop application so you members can access the information without going through the member site (providing access when you have no internet connection or when the member site is down).

 

[lugnut33]

Maybe it's me... but I don't see the need for Disney to pay to send me hard bound books.
I am not sure what this book is, but if it's marketing I don't really care and if it's my member book then I don't want my dues paying extra for "hard bound" so that we can give it away as a "fancy" gift. IMHO it's time for Disney to quit printing all this stuff anyway. Yes, I know we all like to look at it, but Disney keeps saying they are going green and there's nothing "green" about sending me tons of paper! They should make us "opt in" if we still want paper. Let's quit wasting our dues on paper, mailing etc....

Totally agree with you!!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

OP-If your heart is set on having a HB Dreams book, I know I have seen them on Ebay from time to time. If you really want one, maybe look on there. I gave mine away a few years ago, but the HB books were really nice.

 

[pyrxtc]

I wanted a new one with all the new resorts in it so my MIL would have somehting to look through. Also, when I talk to people who are interested in DVC I tell them to make sure they ask for thier Dream book. the quality of that itself would show you what kind of quality Disney is putting into DVC. Not it seems as if it's kind of an after-thought.

 

[disnefile]

Disney is the oly timeshare that gives you new books annually. Frankly, they should only send out point charts and save the money. We just throw them out.

Pete