The Economy - its effects of DVC

[ACDSNY]

The resale market has been hit by the economy over the last couple of months the number of contracts being put up for sale has out paced the number of contracts actually selling. In addition, the price per point has dropped. If you've been keeping track of the ROFR thread you'll see very few contracts have been ROFR by Disney during this same couple of months.

I agree most DVC owners will get through this downturn in the economy just fine in the long run and will continue to take their vacations.

 

[Blahnde]

Disney never used to give away anything much for taking the tour

Five years ago when we first bought into DVC we were given 10 multi-ride Super FastPasses for the 2 of us ... and ice cream! I don't know what your time is worth, but I find the Super FastPasses are more valuable than a $15 gift card.

Promotions are better than I think they've ever been as well.

Really? You would rather have highly restrictive Developer Points over FREE Annual Passes for 7 years??? I believe back in 1992 original OKW owners got FREE Annual Passes through 1999. And the current Developer Points aren't even as good as the ones that gave out a year ago. The ones they gave out originally could be used at ANY resort not just SSR or DL Resorts and were matched 1 for 1 with your purchase, not 100 if you buy 100-199 and 200 if you buy 200+. Oh, and they gave $10 off per point, instead of $8, and $500 gift card. Give me the old promotions any day! They did this while the economy was booming!

I don't think there is any proof that DVC is hurting and as a shareholder, I hope they weather the economic storm ... and Gustav!

Blahnde

 

[Caskbill]

Really? You would rather have highly restrictive Developer Points over FREE Annual Passes for 7 years??? I believe back in 1992 original OKW owners got FREE Annual Passes through 1999......

Just to clarify, they were not Annual Passes, they were Length of Stay Park Hoppers. You had to be staying in a DVC resort on points.

The maximum number of passes you got was half the room occupancy. So if you got a 1-b/r you got 2 passes, even if there were 3 or 4 people staying in the room.

If I recall correctly, they were only good with OKW contracts, and you had to be staying at OKW to get the passes (I believe the incentive ended when BWV was opened so BWV buyers didn't get it, nor did later OKW buyers who purchased after that date. After BWV opened, if you used your OKW points to stay at BWV, I don't think you got the passes for that stay.)

The program went through Dec 31, 1999.

They were only good for the 3 theme parks that were presently at WDW (MK, Epcot, Studios), so when AK opened, you could not use the 'free' passes there.

All in all a good deal. If you figured 5-nights in an OKW at 100 points, and you owned 200 points, (originally minimum purchase was 230 points, then 210 points, then 190) that's 10 nights per year. We purchased 200 points in June 1993 (minimum had just been lowered to 190 pts). Compared to today's MYW passes for the similar vacation weeks, and over the 6-1/2 years we got the free passes, it was probably worth a minimum of $4000 in today's dollars. In fact we got more than 10 nights/year on our initial 200 point purchase because we sometimes we stayed in Studios for some trips.

 

[RobDoc]

In addition to Caskbill's comments above - early buyers at VB also got the free park passes. They were only good when staying at OKW using points, but those early VB buyers not only got the benfit of the extended dues subsidy, but also got the same admission program offered to early OKW buyers.

As mentioned, the free park admission program sales ended in 1995 - well before either HH or BWV began sales. The free passes were good thru the end of 1999.

 

[DisneydaveCT]

As noted above, I was a DVC member during the free passes period. It was a great perk for being a member. My Dad and I did a couple of long weekends at OKW just to golf during that time. We would use the passes to go into Epcot at night for dinner. My Dad enjoyed having a night cap at the Rose & Crown listening to the woman playing the piano in the pub. Although Dad is no longer with us, I still stop in to Rose & Crown for a pint to think fondly of those golfing trips.

 

[crisi]

The park passes were a good deal - but they weren't a sales promotion. According to at least some of the early owners who post here, they were part of the perks package and early DVC owners were told they'd be replaced with something similar (the similar thing turned out to be a UPH discount of 10% - not similar at all).

And the VWL weren't ROFR points, they put out the "sold out" sign on the resort when they started selling BCV, then had some extra points - perhaps supplimented by ROFR points, but they'd always had some VWL points for people who really wanted them (this is ironed into my memory - we have a BWV resale because we wanted VWL and were told it was 'sold out' but we could buy BCV. We started looking two weeks after the "sold out" sign went up on VWL. When several months later they said 'oh, we have some VWL points left' it was my first experience in DVC lies to you. I'm happy with my BWV points - I'm not happy I was told VWL was sold out when it wasn't.)

 

[snackyx]

The park passes were a good deal - but they weren't a sales promotion. According to at least some of the early owners who post here, they were part of the perks package and early DVC owners were told they'd be replaced with something similar (the similar thing turned out to be a UPH discount of 10% - not similar at all).

We joined in January 1992 and the park passes were, in my estimation, a promotion to get us to buy into a program that Disney wanted to get jump started. The DVC people will now tell you that, at the time, they did not know how well the DVC concept would go over and wanted to make it as attractive as possible--a sales promotion. Once it took off, the "perk" was discountinued as it was no longer needed to "complete the sale". I do not remember this being part of a "renewable perk package" that, after its expiration, would be replaced with something else.

 

[Blahnde]

Thank you Caskbill and WebmasterDoc for your clarification of the free passes, and thank you Snackyx for agreeing that it was a promotion. And as a promotion, it was a great one the likes of which I doubt we will see again. To be honest, offering this type of promotion again would be an indication to me that DVC was in economic trouble. I think it would be a "Hell has frozen over" type promotion and until then, I'm not too worried about DVC ... or Disney. But today's restrictive Developer Points and $8 off a point doesn't worry me in the least.

Blahnde

 

[DisneydaveCT]

Snackyk-Your memory is the same of mine.

I bought my DVC membership at the end of 1995 and was told that the promotional offer of the free park passes would only be provided to sales contracts that were initiated prior to December 31, 1995. If we waited until January 1996 to sign our sales agreement then we would not receive the free park passes. To me that is a promotional tactic to get my signature on the sales agreement. And I am very glad that I made that purchase.

 

[william4192]

bump