Why AP holders get discounts at Downtown Disney and not DVC members

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by Johnnie Fedora
What's that spell MOOOOO!!!

 

[DaveT1]

Florida residents could also be considered a captive audience, similiar to DVC members. Both don't need lodging, alot are within easy driving distance and then also would not necessarily need to eat on property, again like DVC.

Yet residents do get AP discounts and DDE. Why? To entice residents to go into the parks and to eat in their restaurants. We are not "entitiled" to anything, but "enticed" to lots.

I would think if it makes dollars sense for one it should for the other?

MOO

 

[goofy4wdw59]

Originally posted by WDWLVR
I've seen examples of DVCers feeling entitled right here on this board. Don't have to look far to see it.

As for a jester of appreciation - here you go

Yeah I know what you mean! A sense of entitlement, leading to overbearing behavior...examples are all over the place.

Oops...s/b "gesture". On second thought, I think I made an appropriate Freudian slip...it fits! Existing discounts/perks are somewhat of a joke .

Actually, it's nice to get any perks with DVC membership, but I do feel they are lacking. How about "beefing" it up a bit with an admission discount?

 

[Chuck S]

Originally posted by DaveT1

Yet residents do get AP discounts and DDE. Why?

The DDE is NOT a free perk to FL residents, but is a Perk they pay $75 per year to enjoy. We, as DVC members DO get an equivalent "free" perk during lunch at some World Showcase restaurants.

How many complaints would we see posted if Disney wanted to "charge" DVC members for this perk, just like FL residents?

 

[DaveT1]

The AP isn't free either last time i checked, residents pay for that.

I just meant they offer the discount and DDE to residents, who like DVC are "in the area" of the parks. I think DDE is alot better than the eating discounts we get at no charge and i would gladly pay 75 or more for the DDE if it was an option. Both would entice me to visit the parks and Disney restaurants more.

 

[Tink03477]

Originally posted by CVW

But here's where Disney may have to change: DVC is fairly young, so most of us are only into our first few years of Disney trips. As the years go on, we'll collectively spend less and less time at the resort, and start venturing out to see the rest of Orlando. If that happens at substantial levels, it might finally make sense for them to make more substantive discounts.

This is something that I do see happening as well. My first couple of trips I used Mears and purchased day passes. As I learned more, (all of it from DISboards), I learned how to rent a car, drive to/from WDW, which passes best suited my stays, purchased AP's, joined every travel e-mail list available and finally purchased SSR. Our last couple of stays we've been able to enjoy the resorts more and not have to spend every waking minute in the parks for fear that we won't get our $$ worth. I look at WDW as my second home, which my family will never get; but that's another thread. My point is, I'm comfortable here now, I can come as much as I can work out with my points, but I don't need to spend all my time in the parks. I may go back to getting just day passes and venture out of the haven of WDW. I want to try other attractions within driving distance. Those other places charge a lot less to visit. If I can visit more attractions for less $ and still stay at my most favorite place on the planet, I will. If I was offered a discount on AP's that made it worth while to keep purchasing them, I would. I can spend $400/yr and only do WDW or spend the same $$ per year and do WDW and the other attractions; that seems like the better deal to me. And thanks to you all, I know how to find the better deals now. The original reason I purchased AP's in the first place was for AP discounts on rooms, but that's not necessary now with DVC. A discount isn't the be all, end all of my being happy, I already am. It just plays in to how I book my trips and what I do on them.

 

[WDWLVR]

A discount isn't the be all, end all of my being happy, I already am. It just plays in to how I book my trips and what I do on them.

I totally agree with this. While I would love discounts on park passes or AP I don't think DVC is wrong in not offering them.

I look at the perks they do offer and see which ones work best for us.

Last May we used the DVC discount to book our Segway tour.
We used the DVC discount at Yachtsman Steakhouse and had a great meal.
We used the DVC perk of getting front row seats at the Flower Power concert.

All of those things are things we would have done anyway but getting the discounts and perks made it nicer. Bottom line thought is that if I really wanted to do them and the discount wasn't there - we would have done it anyway.

 

[WDWLVR]

Originally posted by las3888
WDWLVR, yes, DVC does give us perks, and yes, they aren't what we are looking for when you compare them to the 'lavishness' of other group discounts. That is the argument.

Well I guess I'm just the type that likes to look at the glass half full instead of half empty. I look and see some great perks already. I see which ones I would enjoy using and I use them. Simple.

 

[icydog]

I don't know if anyone has said this because this is a huge thread and I am just too lazy to read it all, but we joined in 1992 and got free passes into all the parks until 1999. We kind of took them for granted and now that I pay my own way, and many times the whole freight for family members, I really understand the value of those passes. We have only rented a studio once so we had four passes at our disposal for 8 years. (A studio got 2 passes but anything larger got 4). I wish we had taken my grandkids more, they only went once then, and didn't waste our time with one bdrms for only the two of us. When we did that, which was all the time, we let two passes go begging. We are talking about a week at a time about three times a year. Yikes, were we ever stupid. Since then we inherited a small house in St Augustine so we now get seasonal annual passes, but even they cost us around $600 for three of us and you can't use them in popular visiting periods like summer,Christmas and Easter.

 

[las3888]

I don't want people to misunderstand, because as I have said, the very measley discounts DVC offers are not a show-stopper to us at all, so my grumbling should not be taken out of context, but I still feel that Disney should take better care of DVC members.

DrTomorrow, I sure do get that we are a captive audience for Disney. I understand that all too well. I feel that goes back to my statement about Disney's arrogance. Where you and I disagree though is that I think it is wrong of Disney. In other business circles, the best customers (captive customers, repeat customers) DO get taken care of, not just potential customers being courted. Businesses generally do not consider it good practice to ignore those repeat people who have given years of loyalty. In essence, I don't think it's right--it may save Disney some $, and it may be a way to make budgets look good etc. etc., but in the end, we are the ones who lose out.

Anyhow, I will continue to hope for some decent perks (despite seemingly a great many of you having objection to that!), most importantly on park passes that are comparable to what other 'good customers' are receiving.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by DVCPAT
Not necessarily DVC, who has made a greater commitment in vacationing at WDW than a DVC member?

I would bet most DVC members charge purchases to the room keys. Disney uses the spending data attached to the keys and decides where to entice future member spending. If members were more discrete with their spending habits, the spending data chart will reflect a drop in spending and new discounts would follow.

I stated who has made a greater commitment, the frequent repeat customer that is "not" DVC. Disney does not reward this guest, therefore I don't see them rewarding the DVC guest.

A guest in a nonDVC resort is going to eat all of their meals out, etc. They are also not going to come down to WDW and sit in thier villa just because it's bought and I need to use it. Also most are not going over to Universal either, unless they stay at Universal unlike many DVC members.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Originally posted by las3888
I don't want people to misunderstand, because as I have said, the very measley discounts DVC offers [...]

DrTomorrow, I sure do get that we are a captive audience for Disney. I understand that all too well. I feel that goes back to my statement about Disney's arrogance. Where you and I disagree though is that I think it is wrong of Disney. In other business circles, the best customers (captive customers, repeat customers) DO get taken care of, not just potential customers being courted. Businesses generally do not consider it good practice to ignore those repeat people who have given years of loyalty. In essence, I don't think it's right--it may save Disney some $, and it may be a way to make budgets look good etc. etc., but in the end, we are the ones who lose out.

Anyhow, I will continue to hope for some decent perks (despite seemingly a great many of you having objection to that!), most importantly on park passes that are comparable to what other 'good customers' are receiving.

I guess it is outlook / attitude - I look at the long list of DVC discounts and think "lots of discounts", not measley.

You sort of take a logical short-cut, lumping "captive customers" and "repeat customers" together - and that's the big difference. Yes, repeat customers are often rewarded for continued purchases. Captive customers: well, not so much. Think about captive customers: hospital patients, people with car trouble on the side of the road, many cable viewers. They all have to purchase something - and note that roadside tows aren't cheap, cable prices keep going up, and hospitals rarely have coupons.

So, at least to me, it's simple business - Disney knows that we're going to be there for the next 38-50 years, so they're going to focus their marketing - and give the discounts - to people who have an easier choice to go non-Disney.

And to whomever said that "Florida residents are captive audience", um, no - they can choose from dozens places to spend their money; and being "permanently off-site" makes this even easier. That's why Disney offers them a great deal - to lure them away from the competition (while many DVCers rely on WDW transportation....)

Finally, I really agree with what Tink03477 said. We bought a Disney timeshare to have a Disney-quality timeshare in central Florida. I know that there will be trips where we don't even spend a penny at a Disney park (excluding DTD) - that why we love the large Resort-style layout of SSR, and the ease of hopping in the car and getting off-site. If Disney wants to keep my dollars flowing in their direction, that's when they'll offer me perks - not because I spent some money with them 2, 5, 10 years ago.

Be well, all!

 

[Pinnie]

Originally posted by las3888
As far as the company Disney goes, it could be argued that we are the most loyal customers of all, since we have bought a lifetime commitment to go to the resort year after year after year, implying that we will be entering the parks and restaurants at some point.

Let me tell you about my DVC trip down in July. We stayed on our points at SSR in a 2 bedroom for 5 nights and never ONCE stepped into a park or a Disney restaurant the whole time. We used our DVC as a "home base" for a drum corp show that was taking place at the Citrus Bowl. We also took our hard earned food dollars offsite to places like Panara Bread, Subway (love those repeat customer stamps!) etc. As DH and I age, we will be using the parks and onsite restaurants less and less. It may be in Disney's best interest to look into those who will NOT be coming down just to "do the parks" and will be spending our money in the area.

Would a discount entice me back? Yep.

pinnie

 

[Sammie]

I agree with Dr. Tomorrow. If Disney felt it was "good" business to give more discounts to DVC they would do so. Being that everyone understands that "good" business is the bottom line for Disney, not that good business is doing what DVC members want.

Believe me no one does more research into their market than Disney. If Disney felt giving more discounts would generate more revenue they would do it. However since they are in the business to make money, they are not going to do it just because it would be the nice thing to do.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Originally posted by Sammie
Believe me no one does more research into their market than Disney. If Disney felt giving more discounts would generate more revenue they would do it. However since they are in the business to make money, they are not going to do it just because it would be the nice thing to do.

The problem is Disney has never really tried giving DVCers "real discounts" (especially on park passes) in order to test the hypothesis. Disney only assumes they will not make more money. The DVCer is a unique WDW vacationer, and I don't think Disney has made a comprehensive effort to understand us.

 

[MisterDisney]

Lets try avoid being overly gullible here people. WIth the utmost respect, if you own a business, are you going to invest your marketing dollars giving customers who are already heavily committed over a long time-horizon discounts or spend that same money trying to lure in new paying customers?? Whats so hard to understand here?

Everyone here presumably already has a great deal with DVC, I cant understand what motive DIsney has to cut its own profits just "because" you would like it. Even funnier is how people are trying to understandably "stretch" their points by staying standard view and forgoing weekends in favor a cheaper DIsney resort - which results in these guests staying even LONGER and putting MORE money into the Disney profit chest. Disney doesnt need to lure DVC people in, they are already lured in...

Also, AP holders are committed for one year. They must be lured back, there is no motive to market much to DVC members because they are under contract for no less than 40 more years !!!

I'll say it again, members already have a good deal, lets not push it : )

 

[DiznEeyore]

Originally posted by MisterDisney
I'll say it again, members already have a good deal, lets not push it : )

'Cuz if we "push it", they might take it out on us by offering things like cruises at rates 25% higher than "regular" Disney guests!!!

Oh, wait -- they already did that!

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by DaveT1
Florida residents could also be considered a captive audience, similiar to DVC members. Both don't need lodging, alot are within easy driving distance and then also would not necessarily need to eat on property, again like DVC.

Yet residents do get AP discounts and DDE. Why? To entice residents to go into the parks and to eat in their restaurants. We are not "entitiled" to anything, but "enticed" to lots.

I would think if it makes dollars sense for one it should for the other?

MOO

The difference is that DVC members are likely to be AT Disney while Disney is trying to get FL residents to do the same. That's a big difference. Still, IMO, Disney should offer DVC members the same perks as FL residents. Also, I don't know of any DVC discounts that are 20% at Disney owned restaurants, only at the Starwood hotels. IMO, Disney would be well served to offer DVC members the same perks as FL residents possibly with the same discounts as DDE or the chance to buy DDE.

Why should Disney offer the discounts when they are not required or obligated to do so? IMO, because it's a perk with precious little cost overall to Disney and it would create a measure of good will. And since we're FL residents, it wouldn't change my situation one bit.

 

[DVCPAT]

Originally posted by Sammie
Believe me no one does more research into their market than Disney. If Disney felt giving more discounts would generate more revenue they would do it. However since they are in the business to make money, they are not going to do it just because it would be the nice thing to do.

How has Disney stock performed over the past 5 years? I don’t think Disney always hits the nail on the head.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Johnnie Fedora
The problem is Disney has never really tried giving DVCers "real discounts" (especially on park passes) in order to test the hypothesis. Disney only assumes they will not make more money. The DVCer is a unique WDW vacationer, and I don't think Disney has made a comprehensive effort to understand us.

I agree whole heartedly in this idea. Disney doesn't have a viable model for predicting the costs and returns where DVC members and discounts are concerned.

Originally posted by MisterDisney
Lets try avoid being overly gullible here people. WIth the utmost respect, if you own a business, are you going to invest your marketing dollars giving customers who are already heavily committed over a long time-horizon discounts or spend that same money trying to lure in new paying customers?? Whats so hard to understand here?

Many businesses give a discount to their best customers. They realize that it's the proper thing to do and they will win out in the long run. It costs money to recruit a new customer so they can pass that on to the existing customers. 10-40% discounts are not uncommon in sales whether it be the local parts place, lawn mower sales or appliances. But each situation will be different and there is obviously a break point. Satisfied customers are also your best source of referrals. It just doesn't make sense to nickel and dime larger groups of people that are some of your best customers. But obviously one must balance the books at the end of the year as well.

Again, not an entitlement, just common sense, at least to me.