"Welcome Home" Losing Meaning

[Alexander]

We just returned from our annual Presidents' Week visit. When we pulled up to the security gate at the VWL the guard just asked if we were checking in and looked at my DL and said "Drive straight ahead and welcome home". I thought "Wow! How did she know we were staying in the villas?"

Then later in the week as we rode the bus and dropped people off at FW, the recording said "This is Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort Welcome Home". What the heck?

I noticed several other times that "Welcome Home" was used and not in a DVC location. What is going on?

I used to love to hear that and felt it was something special we received as members.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I heard that on the bus, too. DVC just isn't that special anymore. It's just a marketing scheme.

 

[RLRDA]

I think I saw somewhere (can't remember where exactly) that CMs were using the "welcome home" phrase to any/all WDW resort guests - not just DVC guests I'm with you, I think it was a nice greeting for DVC members since DVC is supposed to be our "home away from home". Now it seems like a more generic greeting.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

I think I saw somewhere (can't remember where exactly) that CMs were using the "welcome home" phrase to any/all WDW resort guests - not just DVC guests I'm with you, I think it was a nice greeting for DVC members since DVC is supposed to be our "home away from home". Now it seems like a more generic greeting.

Now that you mention it, I don't have any problem with any guest at DVC or a Disney resort being welcomed home..... Welcome Home to you all........

 

[global_mom]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I heard that on the bus, too. DVC just isn't that special anymore. It's just a marketing scheme.

They can say "welcome home" to everyone who steps on Disney property and we will still find it to be special!! To some it may be a marketing scheme but to us it is still warm and fuzzy. Hate to hear that you feel that DVC is not that special anymore.

 

[mwmuntz]

We were recently on the Disney Cruise, and they had a "Welcome Home" sign on the gangway as you were boarding the ship after a shore excursion. I guess it's kind of watered down the DVC meaning, but it's still a nice touch.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I know I've always been in the minority on this but I never liked the "welcome home." I'm not at home, I'm on vacation. It doesn't bother me to hear it and I'm glad for others if you like it. It's just not something I look for.

HBC

 

[msabol01]

We stayed at the WL prior to joining DVC and we were greeted with Welcome Home as well. It was a nice sentiment. I didn't realize it was orginally only a DVC greeting. Since I am a newer member I am not up in arms about its widespread use, I get my sense of being "special" from knowing I am getting great accomodations for a good price and I am at WDW

 

[sajetto]

They can say "welcome home" to everyone who steps on Disney property and we will still find it to be special!! To some it may be a marketing scheme but to us it is still warm and fuzzy.

I know that it is definitely a marketing scheme, but we still get the same feeling.

 

[WolfpackFan]

It has completely lost it's meaning. We got a Welcome Home, when we checked into All Star Music last month. In fact, everyone on the ME bus got one. It's nothing but a marketing scheme now.

 

[PrincessDadx2]

It's nothing but a marketing scheme now.

It was never more than a marketing scheme A DVC marketing scheme that is being expanded because apparently it worked.

 

[ADAMANDLISA]

Even though we are new members, I know the first time I hear "Welcome Home", I'm not going to be thinking about the room --- to me "Home" is the World as a whole. I don't cry when I enter a resort, I cry when I walk into the Magic Kingdom! So, my feeling is that everyone should be welcomed home!

 

[Starr W.]

I know I've always been in the minority on this but I never liked the "welcome home." I'm not at home, I'm on vacation. It doesn't bother me to hear it and I'm glad for others if you like it. It's just not something I look for.

HBC

We joke about it, since after reading some tr's, a lack of a welcome home can ruin someone's trip.

It's a marketing scheme, just like people that believe DVC was a best kept secret. Have you missed that big DVC billboard I see on the way back and forth to SSR?

DVC allows me to have a separate bedroom for my boys and more importantly their own beds.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

I know that it is definitely a marketing scheme, but we still get the same feeling.

I agree with you on this one. Some day it may lose it's luster, but I can wait.

 

[drusba]

We just returned from our annual Presidents' Week visit. When we pulled up to the security gate at the VWL the guard just asked if we were checking in and looked at my DL and said "Drive straight ahead and welcome home". I thought "Wow! How did she know we were staying in the villas?"

Then later in the week as we rode the bus and dropped people off at FW, the recording said "This is Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort Welcome Home". What the heck?

I noticed several other times that "Welcome Home" was used and not in a DVC location. What is going on?

I used to love to hear that and felt it was something special we received as members.

Probabbly what happened is that they were aware of members on these boards mentioning not being told welcome home when they arrived apparently because CM's weren't always aware of the practice. So you fix the problem by making the phrase universal so no one forgets .

 

[javamom]

They welcomed us home at Port Orleans Riverside when we arrived. I am trying to remember if the registration clerk said it or not. However, I assumed that they did this for everyone. It wasn't until months later that we bought DVC.

I did hear it on the busses as well, but I took it more like a "welcome back to your destination" than a true "Welcome Home!"

 

[Dean]

This is why purely emotional issues should not play into one's reason for owning or core enjoyment. If one sees a smiling face and gets a friendly greeting, it should be a positive and not a negative no matter who, what or how much one paid. The idea that DVC members should get something friendly and that other guests should not get it just because they bought a timeshare is petty and elitist IMO.

 

[BCV23]

This is why purely emotional issues should not play into one's reason for owning or core enjoyment. If one sees a smiling face and gets a friendly greeting, it should be a positive and not a negative no matter who, what or how much one paid. The idea that DVC members should get something friendly and that other guests should not get it just because they bought a timeshare is petty and elitist IMO.

I agree.

I noticed a small Welcome Home sign above the entrance to AKL this past week. I think it's a nice touch for anyone to whom it means anything.

 

[Inkmahm]

We stayed at the WL prior to joining DVC and we were greeted with Welcome Home as well. It was a nice sentiment. I didn't realize it was orginally only a DVC greeting. Since I am a newer member I am not up in arms about its widespread use, I get my sense of being "special" from knowing I am getting great accomodations for a good price and I am at WDW

Us, too. I have a funny story about that welcome home greeting. In 2001, I took my mom, dad and 4 1/2 year old niece to Disney and stayed at the WL. Towards the end of the trip, we started to talk about going home. My niece was confused. She thought the 4 of us had MOVED to the WL and that's where we lived now! We finally figured out that the "welcome home" greetings must have confused her and she really thought the WL was our new home.

Even funnier, she didn't miss her parents or two older sisters. The child only mentioned that she missed her cats while we were away. I think she'd gladly have lived at the WL. We're taking her and her younger brother back there this December and she says she is really looking forward to it because she has such wonderful memories from being there when she was 4!

 

[stopher1]

I was at POP in January and heard the Welcome Home on the bus each time we drove up. I thought it was kind of odd - but as a non-member at that time I thought it was pretty cool. Now as a member I've been looking forward to my first Welcome Home when we go to AKV this fall. It is definitely a marketing scheme - but I think (albeit w/o personal experience just yet) it still means something MORE to DVC'ers.

Incidentally, on the buses those times, there were lots of kids telling their parents that they "weren't home, just on vacation"...so lots of those same people (that weren't checking DVC out further) were most likely somehow unaware of DVC despite the "Best Kept Secret" thing pasted everywhere, and just took it as a nice way to get back to their room. JMO.