What cool member perks could DVC realistically offer?

[montrealdisneylovers]

Letting DVC members mix and match parks for FP+ would be great. As DVC members are repeat customers who have favorite rides at all the parks it would be a nice perk.

 

[SonicGuy]

The perk I would like to see would be the opportunity to spread out the cost of annual passes over 12 months. Similar to how a lot of us pay our dues. It would be great if we could make one monthly payment for both our dues and annual passes. A win-win!

Been looking though this thread to see if any one posted this. I think this would be a GREAT benefit for members - especially because they infect could use your points (or access to them) as "collateral"

 

[Brian Noble]

I suspect DVC could get the most traction out of offering exclusive opportunities to Members---sort of like the Sunrise Safari. They could even be offered at a slight premium, as long as it isn't too far out of the norm for "regular" offerings. Many Members derive some personal value out of the "belonging" aspect of Membership, and this would reinforce that.

The other direction would be to discount things that are otherwise offered to the public, but Disney is unlikely to do that unless it ultimately drives more traffic/revenue. For example, this is how Disney uses restaurant discounts; they change as underlying popularity changes.

The monthly payment plan for APs makes sense too, as long as it was auto-renewing. That might help keep more people in the fold, assuming WDW is interested in maintaining the AP cohort---and they might not when the Pandoraverse and Star Wars come on line. When Disneyland added Cars Land, they made APs significantly more expensive, presumably to thin the herd a bit.

 

[beer dave]

all of its a joke....they should save all the money they waste on the mail i get that goes right in the trash and everyone other lame program that they use to make us think they we get perks or are special just give us what all of us WANT...... A REAL PARK PASS DEAL and for up to 7 days i am sure the majority of DVC trips are longer then 4 days....STOP all of this nonsense even if its just for 2 of the members household......maybe a buy 3 get 4th free i dont know but i know i could care less about a MB or a soda lounge.......a real park pass discount that is all we want!

I think what we all should want is lower maintenance fees-- Save on the mailings, the useless special merchandise, the member meets, and the work force that goes along with it. Get the website to the point where we no longer need MS, and get rid of all of it, except for a few problem solvers who can be reached via the website.

 

[beer dave]

I suspect DVC could get the most traction out of offering exclusive opportunities to Members---sort of like the Sunrise Safari. They could even be offered at a slight premium, as long as it isn't too far out of the norm for "regular" offerings. Many Members derive some personal value out of the "belonging" aspect of Membership, and this would reinforce that.

The other direction would be to discount things that are otherwise offered to the public, but Disney is unlikely to do that unless it ultimately drives more traffic/revenue. For example, this is how Disney uses restaurant discounts; they change as underlying popularity changes.

The monthly payment plan for APs makes sense too, as long as it was auto-renewing. That might help keep more people in the fold, assuming WDW is interested in maintaining the AP cohort---and they might not when the Pandoraverse and Star Wars come on line. When Disneyland added Cars Land, they made APs significantly more expensive, presumably to thin the herd a bit.

Just in case you didn't know-- the sunrise safari has been terminated as of 12/28/14.

 

[beer dave]

How about Coffee every day?

You can get free coffee in the DVC lounge at Epcot......

 

[Brian Noble]

Just in case you didn't know-- the sunrise safari has been terminated as of 12/28/14.

I vaguely recall reading something about that, maybe around the time that the new tour started?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I suspect DVC could get the most traction out of offering exclusive opportunities to Members---sort of like the Sunrise Safari. They could even be offered at a slight premium, as long as it isn't too far out of the norm for "regular" offerings. Many Members derive some personal value out of the "belonging" aspect of Membership, and this would reinforce that.
.

They've been doing those type of offerings for awhile now - trying to think of them as we have not participated but there's a DVC offering for Splittsville (Wed nights) and I think for Wishes cruise that come to mind.

And there's a fishing tournament on Thursday mornings.

 

[MJ6987]

The Special DVC events - do these cost DVC money, do DVC make money from them, or are they break even?

 

[kydisneyfans]

I agree with the PP that stated Disneyworld should have the same DVC discounts as Disneyland. At the World, we tend to go back and cook in the villa. At Disneyland, we ate out more meals as they weren't very expensive. We used our DVC card more in 2 days at Disneyland than in the past 3 weeks worth of visits to Disney World.

 

[DebbieB]

I agree with the PP that stated Disneyworld should have the same DVC discounts as Disneyland. At the World, we tend to go back and cook in the villa. At Disneyland, we ate out more meals as they weren't very expensive. We used our DVC card more in 2 days at Disneyland than in the past 3 weeks worth of visits to Disney World.

Disneyland's DVC annual pass discount is $20, less than WDW's $100.

At Disneyland, they give annual passholders 10% off all dining and merchandise and matched it for DVC members. The full year annual pass gets 15%. They don't do that at WDW. I think it's because Disneyland doesn't have as many people eating in the restaurants because more are locals. So they offer it to get them in the restaurants. WDW doesn't have that problem, the restaurants are full.

Disneyland's annual passes have gotten even more expensive than WDW. https://disneyland.disney.go.com/passes/

 

[bethsg]

I'd like to see extra magic hours for DVC members....

 

[Disneyepcot]

I'd like to see 1 free round of golf a month or at least 1 round a year for DVC members.

 

[Sammie]

The Special DVC events - do these cost DVC money, do DVC make money from them, or are they break even?

The special events like the two MK events cost DVD. They have to cover that cost. I think many people think DVC gets these things free from Disney Parks and Resorts but they don't. They negotiate and buy. The cost is really why we get what we get and why offers come and go. The division that has what DVC would like to give to it's members has to be convinced it is a win for them.

 

[Mokat76]

I think what we all should want is lower maintenance fees-- Save on the mailings, the useless special merchandise, the member meets, and the work force that goes along with it. Get the website to the point where we no longer need MS, and get rid of all of it, except for a few problem solvers who can be reached via the website.

While I agree totally on fixing the website, I disagree as strongly with doing away with live member services. I consider being able to reach real people to be one of the perks. I'd hate to lose that.

 

[beer dave]

While I agree totally on fixing the website, I disagree as strongly with doing away with live member services. I consider being able to reach real people to be one of the perks. I'd hate to lose that.

In the past I would have agreed about the live person on the phone, but I have found as I progress in experience, I know more about how the system works than most of the agents. Then there is also the chat with an agent online that has the potential to do the same as the phone call. Not that it currently does....

 

[DebbieB]

I think what we all should want is lower maintenance fees-- Save on the mailings, the useless special merchandise, the member meets, and the work force that goes along with it. Get the website to the point where we no longer need MS, and get rid of all of it, except for a few problem solvers who can be reached via the website.

Looking at the dues for BWV for 2016, member activities are 20 cents per point. So cutting back would barely make a dent. As far as member services, there are probably some members who do not use a computer. Member Services is paid through DVC's Management Fee, which is .48 per point in 2016 for BWV (actually a fixed percentage of the dues).

By far the major part of dues is housekeeping @ 1.07/pt and front desk @ .80/pt. Seems like front desk could go down with the straight to room system. Not everyone would use it but it could cut back on the number of cm's needed.

 

[Popouri DVC]

I have to say that I think upwards of $32 for a "special" magic band is just silliness....

 

[Dean]

Looking at the dues for BWV for 2016, member activities are 20 cents per point. So cutting back would barely make a dent. As far as member services, there are probably some members who do not use a computer. Member Services is paid through DVC's Management Fee, which is .48 per point in 2016 for BWV (actually a fixed percentage of the dues).

By far the major part of dues is housekeeping @ 1.07/pt and front desk @ .80/pt. Seems like front desk could go down with the straight to room system. Not everyone would use it but it could cut back on the number of cm's needed.

There are many moving parts to the maint fee issue. What's absolutely needed, what does it cost, is it an expectation to be offered by a resort (pool), etc. The free valet parking removal would be a good example. The actual cost to the membership as a whole would have been small but it's not an item expected of a resort, it's an easy option to control pay to play and there's no discount doing it under the system umbrella. Maint fees like weight and finances in general are literally death by a thousand paper cuts. If you don' pay attention to them and attempt to make good choices consistently they will get out of control (we can look to DC as a prime example). IMO small savings are important. To that end and given that housekeeping is a big ticket item, one could discuss doing away with the midweek cleaning. It's a luxury most timeshares don't cover, esp in the US. Then there's the whole layer of could they do X & Y as well but more cheaply. I'm sure much of it is like perks in general, inflated by Disney itself in a number of ways. The bottom line is DVC dues are on the high side. Part of that in inherent to the cost of the current flexibility but part of it is driven by things the could potentially be controlled or changed. I'd also point out that breakage inventory above 2.5% goes to Disney as an additional payment as well as the fact they have several inherent reasons for keeping the maint fees on the higher side. It'll be interesting to see how they conduct themselves as the RTU ending dates get closer.

 

[zemra406]

So I think I'm in the camp of "DVC doesn't really owe us anything" BUT I think it would be awesome if they let us buy the FL resident EPCOT after 4 pass. Would be great for BCV/BWV owners to expand dining options and would allow access the member lounge and not use a whole day of admission. There, I said it