Survey on prospective ticket offerings for DVC members

[caracarn]

Originally posted by kweaver
I'm glad to hear that they are seriously considering better discounts! We'll take $60 on an AP! I would like to see discounts on park hoppers too. APs just don't make sense for some who don't travel more than once a year.

Not sure I agree with you here. We go only once a year, but if you stagger you trips so that you get use out of the AP twice, it more than makes sense. For example, we went one year from 12/1-12/14 and then went the next year at Halloween, so we go four weeks out of our APs. Not a bad deal.

 

[Towncrier]

We just got back from 9 nights at Beach Club Villas (6/27 through 7/6). My son went to the post office to pickup our mail and in it was a postcard from DVC for the survey. It starts out

We hope you are enjoying your Membership in Disney Vacation Club!

Of course we were enjoying it. We were there!!! And of course the survey was only active until June 30th. Argh. You would think that DVC would have the sense NOT to mail surveys to those members who have reservations during the survey period. But I guess that would wreck the randomness.

I would have liked to participate in the survey. It's only the second time in 10 years that DVC has asked my opinion. Oh well. I suppose that DVC will do what they darn well please anyway. Still, it frustrates me to have missed out on this one.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Aloha All!

Towncrier: Same with us...Card in mail and EXPIRED when we arrived home from DCL MAGIC....

I took it upon myself to type a short note explaining the above and supporting discount rates, especially on ANNUAL PASSPORTS!

I sent it to the address on the card and enclosed the card ...figured, why not? I, too, have been waiting for a chance to survey!

Sorry...already mailed it but maybe someone else has the address if you don't have your card anymore

~Rose~

 

[DukeStreetKing]

I wonder if this rumored discount will apply to the Florida resident pass, too. That would be twice as nice.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

Count me in as another vote for a good discount of some sort. In our case, we'd definitely prefer an AP discount.

Last year we gulped and bought 2 annual passes, thinking that this would be our "year of Disney". We hadn't been in several years, and we thought that if we took 3 trips in one year, we'd be sick of it and could wait for several more years before our next Disney fix.

The opposite happened because of those AP's! We went 3 times, started to mentally plan future trips, and are now in the process of buying into DVC.

If Disney gives us a good discount on AP's, we will need more points

 

[smjj]

Ticket discounts(or the lack of) is one thing I feel Disney is missing the boat on. Lets say they give a $50.00 discount to DVC club members, It seems we woulld be more prone to purchase them and go to the parks. Once there we would probably spend far more than the $50.00 saving. Maybe I am missing something here but it seems like a very good trade off to me and I can't understand Disney not seeing it..smjj

 

[spiceycat]

disney management is very territory -

until this year - DVC was in a separate division - this year it is in with the WDW resorts and the TICKETS!!!

so yes there is good chance DVC member will get a discount!

 

[Terry S]

spiceycat.... When did DVC become part of the Theme Parks Division? I had not heard that!

 

[spiceycat]

this year - we got a new manager and he now reports to this division.....

hopefully it will mean a real ticket discount....

 

[Luvdisney]

Wish I would get a survey like this! I would pick the discount on the AP's as well. We are planning a one week trip this year to Disney. But that's it until 06. We'll be a spending my other week of vacation time at the beach somewhere. But if I had an AP I know I be skipping the beach and planning a 2nd trip as well for sure. Hint, Hint Disney. want my money.

 

[Terry S]

I knew we had a new manager, I just didn't realize he reports to the Theme Parks Division.

I am hoping beyond hope that DVC members end up with a good (25%) AP discount. But one thing that worries me is that CM's don't even get that good of a discount on APs.

 

[julia & nicks mom]

This is my biggest disappointment in the DVC - if they give us discounts I would think it was perfect!!!

I am planning a trip at the end of October - think there is any hope it will happen before then?

 

[chainkid]

Well as a true capitalist, I don't expect Disney to give us any discounts on passes of any kind beyond what we already get unless they have already noticed that we simply aren't going to the parks as much. We take up alot of rooms onsite but don't spend as much money as a cash customer using those same rooms. Now why is that? Most of us have spent alot of time in the parks especially in the early part of our DVC ownership. I personally bought PAP's for my family for the first few years but not anymore. There is very little new to offer in the parks that we haven't seen a million times and it just doesn't pay to spend that much money to go see one new attraction so if we go into the parks at all its usually a hopper of some kind. Our family loves to eat out alot even at home so being in the Epcot area is a big advantage IF you could get into the parks for dining. We spend big bucks dining on every vacation. I would love a substantial discount on annual passes to lure me back to the parks for dining and just walking around and enjoying the ambiance especially of Epcot. But it would have to be fairly substantial for me to bite excuse the pun. We have an upcoming Dec trip for 10 days and have approx 30 people staying onsite in the BW area. Some of those have 7 day park hoppers, some have Universal passes, and some may not get any passes and just play golf instead and enjoy the resort. We all love to spend time at Epcot and would probably head over there every day if we had cheaper ticket options but since we don't , we carefully plan group dinners offsite or at the resorts in order to maximize the passes we do have. This will be my 4th trip this year but the only one where I will buy some kind of pass. If the AP's were reasonable then Iwould buy one of those because I plan several weekend trips a year on my way back from my job out of the country to unwind before going home. I can honestly say the theme parks are not getting my money. Actually spend alot of money at the dolphin with Shulas and the Blue Zoo as well as flying fish on BW. I really love LeCellier and a few other spots in Epcot but rarely eat there because of the pass situation. So if park attendance from DVC members shows signs of falling off and it makes a dent in Disney's bottom line , then we might see some action on their part. BUT if it doesn't happen I still enjoy the BW and I'll choose to spend my money outside the theme parks.

 

[CVW]

Chainkid raises a very important point. DVC will soon have over 100,000 families who have purchased 40 years worth of vacations to their resort. We've joked that the entire resort may become DVC. But as the DVC percentage of rooms on property goes up, I'm sure the percentage of resort guests entering the parks goes down.

I haven't even made my first DVC trip, and I'm already planning on when NOT to buy the passes, and instead spend a week at USO/Seaworld/etc.

It would be interesting to know how much DVC owners spend on and at the parks. It would be even more interesting to know if that expenditure goes down the longer someone has been a member.

The reason to give a substantial discount would be, not only to drive members back into the parks, but perhaps even to discourage current owners from selling.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: If you really want the discount, take chainkid's approach to Member Services. If we act like bouncy lapdogs begging for a bone, then we may not even get it. But if they sense that we're spending less than we used to, they'll be more inclined.

 

[colleen costello]

Chainkid, right on! I am with you 100%. The parks are too expensive for repeat visitors, no matter how you look at it. Shelling out $1500 a year for 4 AP's is just too much for the privelege of "walking around" the parks.

When we are at the parks, we enjoy great (expensive) meals onsite. When we are not in the parks, we drive to the Crossings and do Pizza Uno, Olive Garden, even Perkins (the kids love that place). It's not as much fun but we save a bundle. At this point I am saying "Let Disney lure me back into the parks." They offer no special access (like Universal does for onsite guests) and no financial disount. Hanging out at my resort is fine until Disney wakes up.

 

[LisaSt]

None of the above we allready get a good discount on Canadian passes buy one get one half price for the 7 day PHP pass.

 

[Muushka]

Originally posted by LisaSt
None of the above we allready get a good discount on Canadian passes buy one get one half price for the 7 day PHP pass.

I guess it's every man for himself.

 

[barb45]

I don't agree and I'm Canadian. We bought the buy one get one half price deal but we had three people so the third was full price. So we bought 2 got one half price and they have expiry dates on them. This isn't such a good deal after all - in fact we saved very little over the UPH's. I'm all for discounted AP's - after the first trip you wouldn't even think about how much they cost you and you would spend even more in the parks. We would make more trips for sure.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

It seems to me that discounted AP's might not just lure current members into the parks more often, they should also serve as a great marketing tool to get people to buy into DVC in the first place.

 

[LisaSt]

For us the Canadina buy 1 get 1 half off is a great deal we only ever go in Dec so we never have to worry about the expiry date and we have usually 8-12 people going so we are golden.