There is a lot of scuttlebutt going around on other sites, and among my DVC friends on Facebook that Disney is worried we are using our DVC villas, but going off property much more. That is the case with me, except off property means DLR instead of WDW. We haven't been to WDW in 3 years, and some say that is the reason we DVC members were offered the huge discount on the AP. Perhaps all the non DVC articles in the magazine is another attempt to keep us from going off property.
I think it's both interesting and ironic that this would come up, especially given the fact that we have to remind newbies that come here all the time that DVC essentially only guarantees you a room. Everything else can come and go. Mostly go lately it seems, but I digress.
I think that the initial allure to most of us was the entrapment of WDW and its surroundings and to be encapsulated in the magic, I, for one, got caught in the trap of ignoring all the other costs associated with my travels south outside simply the cost of the "room." It's the board/meals. It's the tickets. It's the transportation back and forth. It's the recurring and ever-rising annual dues.
Don't get me wrong. I love WDW. I suspect I always will. But just as the "rumors" have guessed, we a now focusing our attentions more and more to Orlando as a destination and hence the attractions outside WDW proper. It's the best of both worlds. We almost always go off-site to eat now. The parks are too expensive to eat at and it's a quick diversion down 192 (We stay at AKK and BLT most of the time.) and we're right back in the magic, especially when we eat early, which we do most of the time. There's a lot of Orlando outside the boundaries of WDW and we are investigating it more and more.
For example, Seaworld and Universal are doing more and more to lure WDW guests outside Disney's sacred boundaries. Both have very aggressive AP prices now very much aimed at a captive audience like us; an audience that comes back year after year and many of us multiple times in one year.
As has been said a thousand times on this board, Disney "owes" us nothing except a room. That's what we paid for. That's ours. Guaranteed. They don't really even "owe" it to us. We own it and they are obligated to make it available. The point I'm trying to make is that as most of us age in our memberships, more and more of us will begin to do as we have done of late and venture out more when we are there.
It's true they don't have to "give" us anything, but my bet would be that their initial bet on the come with DVC was that ventures outside the walls would be few and far between. That may have been true, especially at the onset when it was all new to all of us, but as time passes and economic conditions force many of us to stretch our vacation dollars to gain value, we are now seeking better value for our hard-earned dollar. If Disney chooses to continue to raise prices at and in the parks and resorts while continuing to diminish perceived value, this problem is just going to get worse over time.
If Disney wants to keep us and our dollars on-property, they are going to have to earn it "back." Just like they don't owe us anything, we are slowly realizing collectively, I think, as a "group," that we don't owe them anything in return either. Disney is going to have to up the perks associated with DVC or risk totally losing the intended long-term value to them with which I bet the entire system was based. They may have only sold us accommodations, but they're lure was to get us in the parks and resorts to spend our money there and only there.
There's a lot of money to be lost to DVCers traveling and touring off-property. The first person at Disney and figures out a way to "fix it" will be a hero and will be rewarded beyond belief. As long as they sit there like ostriches with their proverbial heads in the sand ignoring what's going on, those dollars are going elsewhere. We get tired of being treated like second-class guests at the resorts too. That has to end as well, because that's part of the reason we venture off-property now too.
Incentive perks for DVCers are good for us but they're good for Disney too. Notice I didn't say good for DVC. The quicker somebody figures out the big picture and looks outside the boundaries of DVC alone, the better off we will be. Disney too. That's my whole point.
{ramble/rant off}
Bill
