Vacation As You Wish Event

[princessbride6205]

We attended the Friday, 7PM sessions.
<snip>
[*]Presentation Highlights:

• Audience Demographics and Opinions were gathered using a handheld device similar to a remote control. Similar to our polls here on the Disboards, questions were asked on the screens in a "multi-choice" format, we signaled our response and response percentages were displayed on the screen. Questions included:
  • How long have you owned DVC? less than 2 years, 2-5 years, 6-10 years, more than 10 years
  • Have you used your DVC points outside Disney? Yes (14%); No (86%)
  • Favorite vacation types? Cruise, Adventure, Romantic Getaway, "anything Disney"
  • Weekend getaways: How many do you currently take now? None, 1/year, 2-3/year, 4 or more/year
  • Weekend getaways: How many would you LIKE to take each year? (similar options as above)
  • How many DVC points do you have? Too many, Need a few more, (forgot third option), Plan to take guides for drinks after presentation hoping for free points
  • Etc.
• Nikki's acknowledged the switch from II to RCI which occurred ~18 months ago. She noted that the switch triggered a few unhappy comments -- and targeted a rather vocal owner ... who as her story unfolded ... was identified as her husband. Her story provided background on the switch; acknowledged the issue of not making all members happy; and addressed the tension with an appropriate level of humor.
  • The Background Story offered: RCI offered more destinations on a nightly basis providing a better fit to DVC Owner's vacation travel habits/needs. Just as DVC Owners may use their points for short DVC stays -- they may also use their points for short stays at many RCI properties.
  • The "funny story" re: her husband: Her DH takes an annual "guy's trip" to LV. When using II, his trip was a full week because that is the way exchanges ran. Now, with RCI's Nightly Stays ... she can impose a 3-night limit and he doesn't care for that limit. (She did a better job unfolding the story than I did in my recap. It really was quite nicely done.)
• Dave introduced new (new to us?) terms: Destination vs Network Owner. If you are interested in returning to the same DVC over and over and you value the home-resort reservation advantage, you are a Destination Owner. If you own DVC points with goal of using at any/all DVC resorts and you either can't or won't plan more than 7-months out ... you are a Network Owner. He aligned himself as a network owner and offered the suggestion that if "points are points" -- seek the lowest maintenance fee. Handily, GCV is currently the lowest ...
• The presentation pushed, at least gently, the idea of using DVC to take you on a wide variety of vacation types: Cruise, Adventure, Romantic Getaway, Guided (ABD), etc. This also touched on short getaways to exciting city destinations with related activities: gambling, shopping, shows, museums.
• The sales pitch was very soft. They mentioned that four resorts were currently being sold: AKV, SSR, GCV and BLT. They provided pricing only for GCV and offered incentives in terms of the cruises (already described in earlier post). We did not meet with a guide to review cash/discount alternatives -- but felt sufficiently "invited."

[/list]After the event we ate dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe, enjoyed the Downtown Disney area and later walked back "home." It was a fun evening.

Thanks for the detailed info - excellent recap! Interesting about the network owner thing...

 

[toocherie]

I attended Thursday night's member event as we were there for a couple of nights anyway. I thought the whole set-up was embarassingly bad.

The Wishmeister was silly--and insulting. It was my birthday and he not only asked my age but also my WEIGHT (and I am not a lightweight) in front of the whole crowd. I laughed it off but frankly it was uncalled for--and people I have told what happened later have been appalled that someone would do that.

Nikki and Dave--are they really the best DVC could do in the way of presenters? It was clearly a "canned" presentation -- I could picture them in their offices coming up with the spiel. "Oh--let's make jokes about men not being romantic . . . . . "

It was way too long; since this was a members event, I think most of us already know about the options to use our points. We didn't need the litany.

And then, to top it off--not really very good incentives compared to what has already been offered lately. I do disagree with you Kiki--I thought it WAS rather hard sell. Did you attend the dessert party after? Every two minutes one of the DVC employees in white shirts was coming up and asking if we wanted to meet with a guide. A couple of them asked a second time. It got to be annoying. I know they are there to sell points but it was also billed as a member event. "No" means "no" guys!

It did not look to us like there were many takers.

You could also tell that DVC's marketing budget has been reduced; the last event I attended there were hors d'ouvres and beer and wine. This time around a few desserts and coffee and punch. We stayed later than most because a friend's 9 year old did have fun dancing with the DJ/characters. (The only positive of the evening I thought.)

The other thing that bothers me about these events is that they import in people from Florida to run it--when we toured the GV the next night I asked one of the guys from WDW why they were brought in rather than letting the California guides run the show. His response was "we want to do it right."

I think it's time to give the Californian guides a chance--I suspect they might be a little more tuned in to the West Coast.

Oh! And not DVC's fault, but when we were touring the GV some woman (not in our group) actually stole the soap from the bathroom! Seriously--one of my friends saw her slip it in her pocket. It's amazing how some people can be.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I am surprised that the incentives offered were the same as the webcast. At least that you could tune into and then ignore!

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

The other thing that bothers me about these events is that they import in people from Florida to run it--when we toured the GV the next night I asked one of the guys from WDW why they were brought in rather than letting the California guides run the show. His response was "we want to do it right."

I think it's time to give the Californian guides a chance--I suspect they might be a little more tuned in to the West Coast.

I think that's really crappy. When I went to the initial Grand Cal Villas opening event in March 2009, it was staffed by WDW guides. I was interested in purchasing, but the guide who was assigned to me (and that I met at the event) didn't return my calls!!! He was on vacation. (That's smart- send a guide out, meet a ton of prospective members at the first-ever VGC event, then be unavailable by phone for the next week.) The guide whose # he left to contact "if you need assistance" wouldn't help me. Said I needed to talk to him. SO then I called and asked for a manager, based on advice here on the DIS. If I didn't DIS, I would have given up at that point.

I was then assigned a California guide, who wonder of wonders, was working in the same time zone as me! And could talk to me after work! And called me back! And made the sale!

I think it's a big mistake not to have guides who are adjacent to the property they are selling. I would wager that the majority of guests who attended were West Coasters. It only makes sense to give them a guide who is in their time zone, and who are intimately knowledgeable about the resort. JMHO.

And Toocherie- that is just WRONG about the DVC wishmeister asking ANYTHING about your weight! I would have been horribly embarrassed. Who thinks of this stuff...?!?!

 

[kikiq]

The California guides are there working in the sales "clubhouse". My DH talked to a few of the white shirt CM and they were not guides but DVC staff/temps to work the room. Unlike Toocherie, we were only asked once if we wanted to speak to a guide. Initially, we didn't but as we walked through the dessert area, we decided we did want to speak to our guide. We actually walked up to a white shirt staff and asked to speak to our guide. We were taken to the sales "clubhouse" where my California guide was seated at a table. She said that all the California guides were there onsite from Thursday morning and they were still there Sunday night. Most of the guides had someone at their table there were a few with no one. I know that my guide had 2 people waiting to speak to her because they checked in right after us. I"m sure they had some Florida guides also but I think they would need a California real estate license to sell DVC in Calif. The gentleman that took us to the GV was not DVC savvy, I"m guessing he was not a Florida guide, but the folks staffing the GV were definitely knew their DVC stuff, so probably Florida guides.

My DH and I actually found the evening entertaining but we don't get out often (Our big night out is going to DLR on Saturday night to listen to the swing dancing bands) The wishmeister was a little over the top but didn't insult anyone in our session. We knew going in that this was going to be some type of promotion for locals to buy VGC. I talked to 2 different families that were members that DIDN'T know all the options they had with DVC. So while maybe the DVC savvy member especially our veteran Disers wouldn't use their points for anything else but resort stays, there are other members out there that aren't as informed. Even my DH kept saying, "really, we can do that?" And let me say, my DH and i have a lot of pixie dust in our eyes and we definitely drink the Disney "kool ade". DVC and Disney is my DH's guilty pleasure, he works hard and I think i should indulge him...because I get to enjoy too!!!

We DID NOT get an invite for the webinar so the only info I had going in was what I read on DIS and DVC news. We took the cash discount and a new contract starting in June to get 2009 points and added our DDs to this contract.

 

[bwvBound]

I think it's a big mistake not to have guides who are adjacent to the property they are selling. I would wager that the majority of guests who attended were West Coasters. It only makes sense to give them a guide who is in their time zone, and who are intimately knowledgeable about the resort. JMHO.

Related: The cruise incentive was largely driven to those interested in 3 or 4 day cruises on the new Disney Dream. That offer fell really cold on my DH and I. We wouldn't even think about traveling cross country for a 3n or 4n cruise. I was ready to hear and entertain a bundle of great cash discount offers ... but these weren't offered.

Were we the only ones disinterested in the (mostly) East Coast sailing incentives?

 

[toocherie]

Related: The cruise incentive was largely driven to those interested in 3 or 4 day cruises on the new Disney Dream. That offer fell really cold on my DH and I. We wouldn't even think about traveling cross country for a 3n or 4n cruise. I was ready to hear and entertain a bundle of great cash discount offers ... but these weren't offered.

Were we the only ones disinterested in the (mostly) East Coast sailing incentives?

No--you were not the only ones disinterested. The friends I was with and I all felt underwhelmed by what they were offering.

Of course, I wasn't in the market anyway--I was one of the 3% who voted in my session that I had too many points! It just so happened I was staying at the VGC on points that night so we decided to take in the event. Remind me not to do that again.

 

[heathpack]

The Wishmeister was silly--and insulting. It was my birthday and he not only asked my age but also my WEIGHT (and I am not a lightweight) in front of the whole crowd. I laughed it off but frankly it was uncalled for--and people I have told what happened later have been appalled that someone would do that.

I concur- completely appalling! What was he thinking??!! More likely he was not thinking, I would guess.

H

 

[Wmmmmm]

When I got home this evening, my wife asked whether we should take pictures of the box before opening it up! I wasn't sure what she was talking about but then remembered that she won the raffle on last "show". Here's a list of what's in the box:

Disney coffee
DVC logo clock
Mickey Mouse logo leather portfolio with Mickey notepad
3" vinylmation Urban#2
Disney 2010 coffee mug
DVC logo small bag
DVC luggage tag
Disneyland insulated cup
Plush Mickey
DVC logo soda cooler
DVC logo Mickey ears
DVC logo pen (heavy)
DVC logo led light stick

Nothing terribly exciting but from the back of the napkin calculation, I figure the total worth retail is about $100. We dragged our two teenagers there so instead of talking about how bored they were, we will forever talk about the time we won the DVC raffle!


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[Silly Little Pixie]

When I got home this evening, my wife asked whether we should take pictures of the box before opening it up! I wasn't sure what she was talking about but then remembered that she won the raffle on last "show". Here's a list of what's in the box:

Disney coffee
DVC logo clock
Mickey Mouse logo leather portfolio with Mickey notepad
3" vinylmation Urban#2
Disney 2010 coffee mug
DVC logo small bag
DVC luggage tag
Disneyland insulated cup
Plush Mickey
DVC logo soda cooler
DVC logo Mickey ears
DVC logo pen (heavy)
DVC logo led light stick

Nothing terribly exciting but from the back of the napkin calculation, I figure the total worth retail is about $100. We dragged our two teenagers there so instead of talking about how bored they were, we will forever talk about the time we won the DVC raffle!

Nice!!!!