Survey on prospective ticket offerings for DVC members

[Terry S]

Oh, please, please give us a discount on AP's!

I hope I get this survey so that I can be another number!

 

[Hilary]

What I am afraid of is that they will read these boards and see the 1 or 2 people that want a small discount on LOS and figure "great, that is what they want"!

That response is exactly why I think it would be disappointing if Disney chose to discount only one type of admission (if they decide to discount any at all). And we're only speculating this is what they may do on the basis of a memeber survey.

Majority opinion is always going to be a crowd-pleaser, but wouldn't it be better if all DVCers got a smaller slice of the pie rather than some getting a big slice and some getting none?

 

[LIFERBABE]

As said on these boards several times, we bought DVC for the accomodations, not for the perks.

Now that they are researching a discount on admission, we are demanding bones! A survey is a survey. Let it stand on its own.

Let us remember the slide at OKW. They did it when it made sense for them to do it.

We are all going to jump to conclusions and complain and they may decide the only way to make everyone happy is just to leave it as is, because it doesnt make sense for them financially to extend the discounts as much as we want them to.

 

[Tagrel]

No survey here, but I would LOVE an AP discount.

My family is using Park Hoppers this year, so we are skipping out of the parks on several days and doing SeaWorld, Pool Days, etc. If we had an AP, we'd be in the parks daily. And if Disney gives us an AP discount, there won't be any Park Hoppers in our future! AP's all the way!

This would have been a PERFECT Survey on the new DVC website. They could track members by our login, and limit each member to voting once... Hope they start putting the site to better use in the near future!

 

[karebear1]

Originally posted by lenshanem
I'm confused. I thought an AP is now
$403.64 Adults (10 and older); $342.93 Children (3-9).

At $100 off that would put it more than $279?

I don't know what AP's are going for now, I just wrote down what it said on the survey site about each ticket and it's cost. Perhaps the price you have is with a new price change (although they should have that new change) or maybe one includes taxes and the other doesn't? Sorry I can't be of more help. I just do the copying and leave the figuring to someone else!!

 

[DebbieB]

It's $379 x 1.065 tax = $403.64

I don't understand why they said 15% off on one person's survey and 25% on another's. Did they want to see if the 25% person was more likely to pick AP's?

 

[erikthewise]

Some people are talking about before tax prices and some about prices including tax. $403.64 is exactly $379 + 6.5% tax.

The outcome will depend on whether they are
(1) trying to increase AP or UHP revenue by selling more such passes to DVC members at reduced prices,
(2) trying to increase overall revenues by getting more passes (esp APs) to DVC members, who would then make more visits and spend more money on discretionary purchases,
(3) setting up a promotional perk to boost DVC sales (hardly seems necessary right now, but who knows), and are working with a fixed budget which must account for "losses" from standard prices of passes,
(4) just trying to be nice to us

 

[lenshanem]

Sorry karebear1. I'm not so good with numbers.

Thanks Debbie and erik for explaining it. So is the Florida resident annual pass the same as the 25% off?

 

[lenshanem]

Also, with more DVC members buying more APs due to a nice discount i would think some of us addicts might add on?

 

[Corinne]

How I would love the discount on AP's! We buy them anyway, every other year, and manage to get 2 (sometimes 3) trips out of them. This year we have to buy the passes (ouch)!

 

[MiaSRN62]

I didn't get the survey, but I'm all for the AP discount ! We've been buying PH (don't like the LOS passes at all) the past several years because I can get better deals on them and you get the "plus" options to help spread out over the stay. When the PH days run out, we head over to Sea World or Universal. Like someone else mentioned, discounted AP's would keep us in WDW and more likely to book more DVC's stays. Let's hope this comes true.....thanks to the OP for sharing this info.

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by lenshanem
Sorry karebear1. I'm not so good with numbers.

Thanks Debbie and erik for explaining it. So is the Florida resident annual pass the same as the 25% off?

Florida resident is $299 plus tax ($318), about 21% off.

Maria, good point about going to other parks. With an AP, you hate to do that because you feel like you've already paid to go to the WDW parks, you don't have to pay extra like you would at Sea World or Universal.

 

[lisareniff]

We would probably be giving Disney slightly more money for what we currently use but it would add great flexibility. We are currently 7day PHP buyers ($45/day) that we would use approx. 6 days per trip. It would be great to have the flexibility to not have to plan resort days versus park days. We would probably use the parks the same amount during our trips.... of course it would be tempting to make an extra trip down.....

 

[msdis]

I got a similar survey a while ago and told them that we were DVC members. They did ask a lot about passes and ironically we had just decided for the first time we will not renew for 1-2 years. I did express this to them, not as a protest by any means but because of the fact that we spend about 3 hours a day in a park the cost was becoming too much for the useage for us for the way we use them. Been there, done it to death, we just enjoy walking around, shopping, eating, and only taking in a few attractions per trip. We are Disney's dream customer. We use very little of the resources but we're still paying good money for our passes. I'm sure a lot of DVC members are the same. If we averaged it out we probably pay a lot of $$$ just to walk over to Epcot to grab a bite to eat and that may be all we do in any park for the day. We never venture off property because we do figure we have already paid for our AP it would be silly to go pay again elsewhere. Oh sure, Murphy's law, when will I learn. We cancelled our fall trip to WDW and now we are re-booked at VB for the fall and next trip won't be till later next year. All because of the AP prices. I still hope the discounts happen. We'll be back.

 

[Desperado]

Originally posted by msdis
I got a similar survey a while ago and told them that we were DVC members. They did ask a lot about passes and ironically we had just decided for the first time we will not renew for 1-2 years. I did express this to them, not as a protest by any means but because of the fact that we spend about 3 hours a day in a park the cost was becoming too much for the useage for us for the way we use them. Been there, done it to death, we just enjoy walking around, shopping, eating, and only taking in a few attractions per trip. We are Disney's dream customer. We use very little of the resources but we're still paying good money for our passes. I'm sure a lot of DVC members are the same. If we averaged it out we probably pay a lot of $$$ just to walk over to Epcot to grab a bite to eat and that may be all we do in any park for the day. We never venture off property because we do figure we have already paid for our AP it would be silly to go pay again elsewhere. Oh sure, Murphy's law, when will I learn. We cancelled our fall trip to WDW and now we are re-booked at VB for the fall and next trip won't be till later next year. All because of the AP prices. I still hope the discounts happen. We'll be back.

Excellent explanation. Very well said. We don't do the parks all day commando style, it's really like paying full price for a 1/2 day (if that) use of resources. I really think if it were well researched, a discount to DVC members would be in the financial best interest of Disney. They don't have a good understanding of our use patterns. Listen to your customers and respond. Personally, I would like the discount to apply to Park Hopper passes, but AP passes would be great. LOS passes wouldn't be used by us, we are getting into the habit of skipping some park days, and just enjoying the DVC resort and other activities. Lowering the price would lure us back more often. I really think it is in Disney's financial best interest, and that a rigorous investigation and analysis would bare that out.

The idea of using the member website for this kind of feedback is an excellent one.

 

[ErinC]

I just filled out the survey. We received the postcard yesterday.
The figures I was given were the %15 off figures. I chose the park hopper as my #1 choice. We aren't in a position in our lives right now that we can vacation enough to make an AP worth the cost. Although, someday I plan to make use of one. I commented that I would like to be able to purchase tickets at the Florida Resident rate. Every time I pass by the Pensacola AAA office and see that 4 day park hopper for $109 for residents, I drool!

 

[MinnieGi]

I would love to get this survey too! I'm happy to hear Disney is thinking about discounts on tickets for DVC members. I hope the survey results look positive enough for them to initiate DVC ticket discounts. It would be real nice to have a discount on all types of tickets that way each year you could figure out what would work best. However AP discounts would be really ideal for us!!!!

 

[karebear1]

For those who had took the survey and had the 15% off acroos the board on tickets- my password was different then yours- and if yours were the same password? Maybe the password took us to a different survey?

 

[vernon]

Erikthe wise said
I agree with Dean -- why should one have to choose? DVCers will want different types
of passes. Why should one of them be discounted and the others not?

IMHO Disney ( or areas within it) may argue that the result of offering "across the board" discounts would just mean members continue with their current options, but Disney is down by X%. By offering the discount on one (more costly) option it would encourage members to take up a more costly( but better value) option that raises revenue for Disney.

Dean said
This makes me wonder if Disney has seen a drop in DVC park attendance and is finally taking it seriously, I hope so.

I hope and believe that may well be the case. Goodness knows we've been banging on about it long enough in this forum LOL

Erikthewise said
The outcome will depend on whether they are
(1) trying to increase AP or UHP revenue by selling more such passes to DVC members at reduced prices,
(2) trying to increase overall revenues by getting more passes (esp APs) to DVC members, who would then make more visits and spend more money on discretionary purchases,
(3) setting up a promotional perk to boost DVC sales (hardly seems necessary right now, but who knows), and are working with a fixed budget which must account for "losses" from standard prices of passes,
(4) just trying to be nice to us

I agree with you that #3 is unlikely ( but not as unlikely IMHO as option 4 LOL . I think it would be marginal on option 1, I do think there would be a slight increase in earnings from more AP's but I don't think that it alone would justify the move. IMHO it's only when looking at the "overall" picture of DVC earnings that this move makes the most sense.

Disney is never going to put something like this in place just to make the members happy, it's only if it makes economic sense for them to do so. As many people have already pointed out they were moving away from AP's and going to PH's and visiting offsite or using the pools. I think disney may have the demographics to show this move was begining to hurt them and they are looking at ways to turn that around. I know for certain in my own case if I had a discount on an AP of this type of nature I would spend a lot more time in Disney's parks and a lot less at Universal, SW etc. It would not suprise me if they sent out a couple of different surveys with differing discounts to see what difference the take up rate would be. IMHO the AP + PAP are the ticket options that suit Disney the best, it's a question ( for them) of how much they need to give up in order for the members to go down that route.

IMHO it's good news for all concerned if they go ahead.

 

[MDonley]

We didn't get a postcard yet, but I'd certainly vote for the AP discount. DVC members already get discount water park and PI tickets at the resorts and if you're not going there enough to make it worthwhile, why pay for PAP.