TIW price increase for DVC...

[groverdog]

With so many guests staying in the 30,000 Disney hotel rooms & villas plus day guests at the theme parks, I suspect they've reached the point where each family only needs to do one or two nice meals per trip to fill the restaurants.

You are probably right, they probably feel they will fill the restaurants whether they offer discounts or not.

 

[mnra]

We use to buy the annual pass and tiw but I know the tiw is off the board for us. We will just arrange meals differently. To pay that kind of amount you have to eat at all the high end places often to come out ahead.

 

[AnnaS]

We were definitely going to purchase ours in a few weeks. Now we are not so sure. Our upcoming trip, my son has his TIW card and we have a few ADRs together. We really don't need it for this trip. We are staying a few nights after our May cruise. Meals could be worked around DVC/AP discount. We plan to get one more trip in early October 2016 - I think I will plan ADR's again around DVC/AP discount. We are not big drinkers so not sure if it will be worth it.

We know we did not buy in for the perks but the discounts are always nice when we can get one.

 

[luckyman_apd]

Have you used Spirit?

I can't really tell from typing if you're asking if I've used spirit legitimately or if this is a crack on Spirit. Yes....I have used Spirit...it is our Official disney airline. BUT.....I will ONLY use Spirit to go to Orlando. We used it to go from AC to Detroit once.....flight out was fine, flight home was delayed over stupid incompetence. I don't brag about Spirit usually, but from Atlantic City to Orlando it is a flight short enough to tolerate the cramped space (which is only really bad if you get a Airbus 319...the 320 and 321 actually give a bit more space) and some fantastic deals can be had. My next 3 flights were $90 a person round trip, and a friend just got $72 round trip. Yes...their baggage policies suck but we've bought carry ons to fit their "free" dimensions. With DVC laundry it's usually enough. Of course those dimensions are changing next year.....but PHL is the worst airport ever after LaGuardia in NY...and AC is very convenient and has allowed us to enjoy our DVC in ways we never thought when we purchased.

I'm still mad about TiW though. TiW was really the only reason we still did Disney table service meals.

 

[luckyman_apd]

Ha.....missed that...maybe I should have gone to bed last night earlier lol. It was good to see the cowboys lose though.

I believe that should be mac_tlc (use lower case L not an i)

 

[tjkraz]

You are probably right, they probably feel they will fill the restaurants whether they offer discounts or not.

Not ALL restaurants but enough that the blanket discount programs aren't necessarily in their favor anymore.

Anecdotally, I think the list of restaurants at which DVC members receive discounts has grown quite a bit over the years. But they are mostly resort locations and the least popular in-park eateries. Disney doesn't need to give 20% discounts at Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's or Sci-Fi in order to regularly fill all openings. The increased TIW fee seems like more of a deterrent than anything else.

We don't eat table service meals frequently but tend to stick to those with a DVC discount. Aside from that, maybe one big splurge per trip.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I can't really tell from typing if you're asking if I've used spirit legitimately or if this is a crack on Spirit. Yes....I have used Spirit...it is our Official disney airline. BUT.....I will ONLY use Spirit to go to Orlando. We used it to go from AC to Detroit once.....flight out was fine, flight home was delayed over stupid incompetence. I don't brag about Spirit usually, but from Atlantic City to Orlando it is a flight short enough to tolerate the cramped space (which is only really bad if you get a Airbus 319...the 320 and 321 actually give a bit more space) and some fantastic deals can be had. My next 3 flights were $90 a person round trip, and a friend just got $72 round trip. Yes...their baggage policies suck but we've bought carry ons to fit their "free" dimensions. With DVC laundry it's usually enough. Of course those dimensions are changing next year.....but PHL is the worst airport ever after LaGuardia in NY...and AC is very convenient and has allowed us to enjoy our DVC in ways we never thought when we purchased.

I'm still mad about TiW though. TiW was really the only reason we still did Disney table service meals.

Coming from Cape May we could use Spirit from AC, but we have enjoyed SW out of Philly. I was just wondering if you had actually used Spirit, I have not and have heard horror stories. We are both tall, leg room means a lot to me. We are trying Frontier out of Philly to Houston, that will be our first experience with an airline that has so many optional fees. We did pay for more legroom for each of us both ways.

Our TIW does not expire until January, so we have time to decide. My next trip after that is in May. Unlike some folks here, I am not very likely to eat off site often. I find wait times and choices are not THAT great.

Bobbi

 

[mac_tlc]

With the underscore ...

I tried to email you but it came back undeliverable. Is that mactic or mac_tic?

 

[vallerii]

If you already did the math, it should be easy to determine if you're saving more then $150, or just $100.

No need to get sarcastic rude. I do know how to do math quite well thank you very much. We are not a big family with tons of dining reservations. We were borderline this trip based on our reservations/ drink plans (but California grill made it almost worth it), the real savings potentially wouldn't be until our next trip and therefore that would be dependent on dining plans practically a year away. You can't just figure straight percentages either when you already get a dvc discount (therefore the tiw savings needs to be above dvc or you are really just breaking even) Then there is the consideration of what restaurants you have in your plans take which discounts and which don't ( e.g we do Tokyo dining-- no tiw but they do take dvc) With the new pricing if we look at just this trip its def. no longer worth but I'd need a crystal ball to forecast the dining plans for the next trip. We might eat at a few tiw restaurants. We might decide to skip them all.

 

[vallerii]

While I'm not particularly happy about TIW increasing to $150, I will still be buying it next month. I don't understand the comments about having to do so much math to figure out if it is worth buying or not. It was $500 break even point and now it is $750. My husband and I spend that in nothing flat on a trip. And this year, we have 9 family members traveling with us in November so it will cost a small fortune for food. We will make up the $750 in less than 2 meals.

We don't spend our entire trip eating and drinking and typically spend $350-$500 2x a year depending on the trip for table service/drinks. When you are right between those amounts you have to think about it (are we really gonna get that dessert or the extra bottle of wine? Etc..) otherwise we'd just be breaking even or even spending more which seems kind of silly. Literally we're so on the margin now where it would be worth it.

 

[DizDaD7]

I got no e-mail from anyone, and I am a TIW cardholder, DVC member, AP holder. A 50% increase with no warning and not ability to react is ridiculous.

50% increase??? I'm confused..

It's now $150 as opposed to the $125 it was...

 

[DVCTigger]

50% increase??? I'm confused..

It's now $150 as opposed to the $125 it was...

DVC price for TIW was $100

 

[erionm]

50% increase??? I'm confused..

It's now $150 as opposed to the $125 it was...

The $125 price was the old price for FL Residents that are neither AP Holders nor DVC Members, now $175.
AP Holder & DVC Member price was $100, now $150.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Ok...I guess I'll stop feeling bad then. I just figured that these folks that loved Disney vacations so much that they joined DVC maybe expected better treatment. They're a piece of Disney's fan base but like you basically said...anybody who bought in for the discounts must be stupid. I was just sharing my sentiments that I didn't agree with the business decisions being made by Disney.

As for me...I never was close to buying into DVC or any timeshare for that matter because it would be an insane waste of money for the way I choose to travel.

We did. Some fair warning would be nice. A more gradual increase.

Nothing is guaranteed true... but there are such a thing as guest service, taking care of loyal customers, and optics. The optics on these increases is terrible. It reinforces the point that Disney really doesn't care about repeat people and are targeting lifetime up to every 3-5 years ranges

The only benefit to this strategy for the consumer is that disney will be forced to keep updating the park to keep attracting these visitors. Unless they think business can SOLELY come from once in a lifetime visitors from around the world. Then we'll get stale parks and escalating prices.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Here is the famous Walt Disney quote about Disneyland being a family-friendly destination:

“The idea for Disneyland came about when my daughters were very young and Saturday was always Daddy’s day with the two daughters. So we’d start out and try to go someplace, you know, different things, and I’d take them to the merry-go-round and I took them different places and as I’d sit while they rode the merry-go-round and did all these things- sit on a bench, you know, eating peanuts- I felt that there should be something built where the parents and the children could have fun together. So that’s how Disneyland started. Well, it took many years… it was a period of maybe fifteen years developing. I started with many ideas, threw them away, started all over again. And eventually it evolved into what you see today at Disneyland. But it all started from a daddy with two daughters wondering where he could take them where he could have a little fun with them, too.”

Note it doesn't say anything about the park being "affordable to all" or "reasonably priced" (which is about as subjective a measure as you can get.) I'd challenge you to find a quote which implies that Walt ever believed the park should be financially accessible to all. Even before these price increases--or any other increases over the past 50+ years--there are millions of people in the US and billions around the world who cannot afford a Disney theme park vacation amongst their other necessary living expenses.

Walt was a businessman. He certainly strove to deliver a better park than the carnivals and amusement parks which were standard in his time, but he knew he'd have to charge accordingly.

Funny how the business under Walt, Roy, and even Eisner didn't have the meteroic rising prices we've seen under Iger. It's a great short term strategy. It may come back to bite them in the long term.

 

[supersnoop]

No need to get sarcastic rude. I do know how to do math quite well thank you very much.

I think you very much misread my post. I stated, as did you, that you had already done the math. You're the one who said you'd need to "reevaluate everything." That seemed iPad bit over dramatic since you would already have the numbers right in front of you.

 

[tjkraz]

Funny how the business under Walt, Roy, and even Eisner didn't have the meteroic rising prices we've seen under Iger. It's a great short term strategy. It may come back to bite them in the long term.

No, but they didn't have the same degree of business analytics back then either. As a consumer, I hate the price increases. But as a businessperson, I understand exactly why they are happening. It is difficult to fault the logic when crowds keep filing through the gates in ever-increasing numbers.

Will it come back to bite them? Maybe. But it's not like these prices are set in stone. Disney could always introduce some AP incentive, dining coupon or other promotion if some segment of the business starts to lag.

 

[Crystal824]

Wow, huge increase. We were on the fence but decided recently to purchase next month. Will not be buying it now.

We are in the same boat. We were going to buy it for our upcoming trips. Now we definitely are not getting it. Since we aren't getting TiW, we will also be doing less table service dining for our next trip. We used to do one sit down every day. Now, it is 3 for the entire week. I'm sure Disney won't miss us because they will fill the restaurants with people paying 100% of the cost or on the DDP. That is ok, I'm actually saving money this way. With the quality of some of the TS meals lately, I'm probably not missing much.

I find this price a bit offensive too. The last time we bought TiW was in 2013, I think for $75. It is now double that....Crazy. It was worth $75. We were on the fence about paying $100 but decided to do it anyway. We will not pay $150. It isn't worth it to us.

 

[bonrea]

We purchased the TIW card for the first time in 2014. With the math being done several times we broke even. We have learned that if we had just used the Chase Disney Visa card and asked for the 10% discount we would have saved some money. In some cases the CDV card and DVC member discount it would have been cheaper. Now with the 50% increase just for the TIW we will no longer purchase it. We will just ask for the 10% on other cards/memberships. We did use the free valet parking feature but that still didn't add to the $100 after it was all totaled up.

 

[granmanh603]

No, but they didn't have the same degree of business analytics back then either. As a consumer, I hate the price increases. But as a businessperson, I understand exactly why they are happening. It is difficult to fault the logic when crowds keep filing through the gates in ever-increasing numbers.

Will it come back to bite them? Maybe. But it's not like these prices are set in stone. Disney could always introduce some AP incentive, dining coupon or other promotion if some segment of the business starts to lag.

It may or may not come back to bite them but it sure has poisoned the water and put a bad taste in my mouth but so has alot of things Iger has done... it doesn't come across as a small price increase , it feels more like greedy!