Speculation thread....New incentives after Mar. 28

[tjkraz]

Where's the value in going during hurricane season or Jan./Feb.?

We just took a February cruise and had a great time. Weather in Nassau and Castaway Cay was in the upper-70s / low-80s. Beautiful escape from the freezing north.

I can't speak to the overall appeal of any one incentive, but it would seem to be to DVC's advantage to keep mixing things up. I'm sure there are people who shrug their shoulders at Developers Points and other things that DVC has recently been offering.

 

[Crystal_27]

We just took a February cruise and had a great time. Weather in Nassau and Castaway Cay was in the upper-70s / low-80s. Beautiful escape from the freezing north.

I can't speak to the overall appeal of any one incentive, but it would seem to be to DVC's advantage to keep mixing things up. I'm sure there are people who shrug their shoulders at Developers Points and other things that DVC has recently been offering.

Yeah, I agree - - the developer's points weren't a draw for me at all, but the cruise incentive made us finally decide to pull the trigger. I'm glad your cruise was wonderful (how can a Disney cruise be anything but - LOL)!!

 

[Golden Rose]

We love the idea of a cruise incentive they've been offering, but the timing is totally not right for us... either to add on or take a cruise. (We're waiting to adopt, and it is 1) expensive, 2) unpredictable timing, and 3) not permitted by our agency to take a newly adopted child out of the country for the first 6 months.) Having bought both our contracts in the last year, we have plenty of points to spend in 2009. We'll probably have a fair number to spend in 2010, since I'm sure we'll end up banking many of our points this year.

That said, we know we'll be adding on at some point in the next few years. A fantastic incentive might tip the balance as to when we do so, and where we do it. We actually did think about doing a VGC add on, just so we won't have trouble going when we want to go and because we believe the points won't last long and will go for a premium on the resale market. We've also talked about BLT, and we may yet add on there if the incentives are good enough when we're a little more certain about our near future. We also have some close friends (who learned about DVC from us) and may very well join in the next year, and I know they will be paying close attention to incentives.

I would love to see a discount for those of us who pay cash for our points. I would love to see double developer points again, that don't have to be used at SSR. I would love for them to continue to offer some sort of optional cruise incentive, although I agree that they ought to find a way to make it more feasible for larger family groups. (We would do fine in a cabin for 4, but I know many can't fit.) I think Disney should cover all closing costs if you buy from them. I think the incentives need to be extremely good to make them even vaguely competitive with resales, but I really doubt they're going to do it.

 

[disneymotherof3]

I think some sort of AP incentive, DP's and per point discount would be nice (especially for those who are already members). I know that will probably never happen, but a girl can dream!

 

[WoodysRoundup]

We just took a February cruise and had a great time. Weather in Nassau and Castaway Cay was in the upper-70s / low-80s. Beautiful escape from the freezing north.

So happy to hear that you had a great cruise! I remember reading here on the Dis that someone took a Feb. cruise and the weather (wind) was too bad to dock at Castaway Cay.....made me feel like we'd be taking our chances with Feb.

Funny thing is, we can't wait to do DCL!!

 

[AshRae84]

I keep seeing many mentions of AP incentives here, my fiance and I just started the process for BLT today, and were offered AP vouchers (only for 1 year, but still).

My guide stated it wouldn't be going on much longer, but we got them today...

Is this not something typically offered?

~*Ash*~

 

[AshRae84]

Have no idea why that double posted. So sorry.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

<snip>BLT is about 30% sold as of this date so DVD can be less generous with the incentives.

Hmmm... Not doubting you necessarily but you know this how, exactly?

I agree that it's a matter of public record that about 30% has been declared but knowing that's all about sold for sure is a whole different thing.

 

[GirlfromTN]

I keep seeing many mentions of AP incentives here, my fiance and I just started the process for BLT today, and were offered AP vouchers (only for 1 year, but still).

My guide stated it wouldn't be going on much longer, but we got them today...

Is this not something typically offered?

~*Ash*~

I think it has been reported as being offered at DL but not WDW (correct me if I'm wrong). I can't remember if it was also offered during Doorway to Dreams. Did you purchase through a guide at DL?

 

[TifffanyD]

The cruise incentive sounds nice but there are just 2 of us and we can do a 3 night for around $550 (subtracting OBC) and be happy in a cat 12. So it's not a great incentive for us

 

[maburke]

I am going crazy with the suspense. I want to buy into VGC, and it opens to the public 3/26, incentives change 3/28, and they are having an event at DL from 3/26-3/29! Will the incentives change over the course of the event? I guess I will buy before 3/28 and then cancel and re-do if the later incentives are better? What to do, what to do!

 

[r3ngels]

I like DCL but I hate that you can't pay the difference for a 4 day and for a family of 5, cruise for 4 isn't the best incentive.

AP's would be good.

 

[AshRae84]

I think it has been reported as being offered at DL but not WDW (correct me if I'm wrong). I can't remember if it was also offered during Doorway to Dreams. Did you purchase through a guide at DL?

Yes we did. But she said we could use the vouchers for WDW, as we're already AP holders at DL.

 

[WoodysRoundup]

I am going crazy with the suspense. I want to buy into VGC, and it opens to the public 3/26, incentives change 3/28, and they are having an event at DL from 3/26-3/29! Will the incentives change over the course of the event? I guess I will buy before 3/28 and then cancel and re-do if the later incentives are better? What to do, what to do!

My guess would be then that new incentives will be offered by the 26th. This would still give folks to "choose" the older incentive option by the 28th (expiration date).

When the last set of incentives were offered at DTDreams, you could go with that option or the "older" incentives which were still being offered.

Good luck and have fun!!!!

 

[TifffanyD]

This would be a fun option for some and cheap for Disney:

100 pt add-on - free escape wedding/vow renewal
200+ pt add-on - free fairytale wedding/vow renewal

 

[tjkraz]

I like DCL but I hate that you can't pay the difference for a 4 day and for a family of 5, cruise for 4 isn't the best incentive.

I didn't specifically ask because we are a family of 4, but I thought you COULD pay extra for the 5th person in your party. (I know that's a downer for some folks but realistically they had to draw the line somewhere. Plus a higher cabin class is required for a party that big.)

Not sure about the longer cruise. IIRC there was at least one thread about conflicting info--one source said yes; another said no.

 

[BlakeNJ]

im totally with you guys. i think the $112 price for animal kingdom, bay lake, and saratoga is expensive and the $6 per point discount for AK and $5 per point discount for bay lake doesnt help much. Its hard to justify too since i bought saratoga last year at $95 a point with a $10 per point discount.

Im surprised since the recenssion is driving real estate prices down, its not being seen by the vacation club, although i guess timeshares are more of a luxury.

I bought the year before you at around $95 and I think $10 off per point. I think we payed $86/pt total so maybe the price was higher and the incentive higher as well. I don't have my documents handy to check.

I think we'll see a higher price per point incentive. At $112, it's hard for me to justify a purchase from Disney when I can get something resell. That is where we are leaning right now. I mean, who in their right frame of mind would buy from DVC when you can get a resell at SSR for a steal, as well as resells for BLT and AKV? Certainly not me.

 

[Brian Noble]

I wouldn't expect a low interest rate offer. Capital markets right now are very tight, particularly for off-loading timeshare loans---there would be many other, much less-expensive-to-Disney incentives that could be offered that would be viewed just as attractively.

 

[BlakeNJ]

I didn't specifically ask because we are a family of 4, but I thought you COULD pay extra for the 5th person in your party. (I know that's a downer for some folks but realistically they had to draw the line somewhere. Plus a higher cabin class is required for a party that big.)

Not sure about the longer cruise. IIRC there was at least one thread about conflicting info--one source said yes; another said no.

Yes. You could pay for the additional person but you had to upgrade your category to Cat. 4. Cat. 4 is very expensive but the only Cat. that will fit 5 ppl. We are 5 and it's cheaper for us to get 2 connecting rooms (with porthole) than it is to book 1 Cat. 4.

 

[BlakeNJ]

I hope for everyone else's sake it is not an RCI week. That was part of our incentive and the exchange options are very, very limited. We may not even use it. (For anyone who hasn't exchanged before--this is not the norm--just the way it is for these incentive certificates.)

I want to say that our family of five loved the cruise incentive. For a seven night cruise we paid only $931. The Cat4 cabins are normally pretty expensive! So, totally worth it, I think.

I can't wait to see what the new incentives are though.

I'd love to buy some VGC points too!

I think the cruise option is a better option than developer points if you've always wanted a Disney cruise. Being that you spent $931, I am guessing that is cheaper than using Dev. pts at Disney where you are paying for food and park tickets. I have priced a Cat. 4 cabin and can't get anything under $5000 for my family of 5. I think you got a great deal.

Sounds like the RCI weeks wasn't too thrilling of an incentive.